What should I serve with Cioppino?

Besides bread and a nice zinfandel. Would cole slaw be wierd? I want something green and cool to contrast with the spicy cioppino but not a traditional lettuce salad. Lime Jello?

Dandelion Greens I haven't tried this recipe, but I used to get these at an RIP Greek restaurant. They were served cold, with olive oil and lemon. They are somewhat bitter and very bright, a good foil to rich seafood.

If you cannot find dandelion greens, you might want to use another bitter green - either a chard or rapini.

I think a simple arugula salad would be perfect.

-Arugula with lemon vinn. and parmesan

As I posted in the holiday meals thread, I took my own advice and made Cioppino and Dandelion Greens for Boxing Day - both turned out terrific, and they went together as I'd predicted; the bitter/sour greens were a nice foil for the rich stew.

The greens I sauteed with garlic, and then added a splash of white wine and covered the pan, allowing them to steam a bit. I cooled them and dressed with salt, fresh lemon, and a generous splash of EVOO.


I wound up combining two Cioppino recipes: my MIL had one that looked promising, but contained red wine and no stock (and canned shellfish, making it a contender for a future food desert recipe,) and the epicurious recipe used tomato paste, which I try to avoid. Oddly, H-Mart was out shell-on mollusc-type shellfish except whelks, (which I've never used before, so I decided against them.)- so I didn't have those. What I wound up with, estimating and combining the two recipes, was delicious, and I was able to use my home-canned tomatoes, which really worked in this dish.

1/4 cup olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 1/2 teaspoons salt + 1/2 tsp for shrimp stock
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 red bell pepper, diced

1 cup dry red wine + 2 tbsp for shrimp stock
1 16 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 16 oz can tomatoes with basil and garlic
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
About 1 lb raw jumbo shrimp in shells
About 2 lb blue crab, cleaned in shells
About 1 lb frozen cod fillets, cut into large cubes
Canned oysters, drained, juice reserved (these were what I had on hand)
Canned minced clams, drained, juice reserved
1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes or to taste

Devein and shell the shrimp, leaving the tail ends on. Put the shells and 1 crab in a pot, cover with water, add 2 tbsp of wine and 1/2 tsp salt and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 1/2 hour, remove from heat, strain and discard shells. In a large dutch oven, sweat the first group of ingredients in the olive oil. When translucent, add 1 cup of the liquid from the shells, the juices from your canned seafood, wine, broth, tomatoes and half the parsley. Bring to a simmer - simmer for 1/2 hour. (At this point, you can remove from the heat and refrigerate up to a day, bring to a simmer before resuming recipe.)

Lightly salt and add the shrimp, crab, and fish and simmer until the shrimp and crab change color and are just cooked, checking every 3-5 minutes (it depends on the size of what you're using and whether or not it's frozen) Just before serving, add the canned seafood. Garnish with remaining parsley. Serve with crusty bread for dipping. (I served 6 people and had leftovers) (PS. Since we had a lot of non-spicy folk eating, I put the chile flakes in a small cup of the hot broth early on, and let people garnish as they liked. It worked really well; once you spooned it into your dish, you'd never have known it was an add-in.)