New Year's Eve

Well, we kept on the Italian theme for New Year's Eve and I made my first Cioppino, a seafood stew. I kind of winged this one ... here is what I used for a generous 2 servings.

1/2 lb. halibut, skinned and cut into large cubes
1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 large scallops
1/2 lb. mussels or clams

For the broth:
Chopped a leek up and used it to flavor the broth (remember to clean it really well ... they are really dirty vegs)
Peeled and chopped 2 large carrots
Chopped 2 celery ribs
2 garlic cloves cracked

Put the veggies with a swig of olive oil and a bay leaf and saute on low for a couple of minutes. Next I added 1.5 c. of dry white wine and 3 c. of seafood broth (I used Penzeys Seafood base dissolved in water), and a 28 oz. can of plum tomatoes with the juices. I added a pinch of oregano, a couple of Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste and let the broth stew for about 30 minutes.

Now you are ready to add your seafood. I did the mussels first and cooked them a couple of minutes until they opened then removed them to a plate. Next I added the fish, shrimp and scallops and cooked for about 5 minutes (the shrimp were done before then so we removed them to the plate as well. Once everything was cooked I removed the seafood to a plate and pureed the broth (removing the large pieces of veggies & bay leaf first). Then I added all the seafood back in and served in soup bowls with a crusty bread to mop up the great tomato broth.

This turned out so incredible. The only thing I might not do next time is the scallops ... I prefer them grilled and they turned a blah color when they cooked in the broth this way. I would save them for a different occasion.

For dessert we had Chocolate Souffles from the Cooking Light Dec. Holiday issue. These turned out great as well.