Cioppino

I love seafood like shrimp, mussels, scallops and clams. I have seen Cioppino made and seen it done on TV but never actually tried it. I recently saw in the local grocery store they had live clams, mussels, and fresh halibut. I decided I would make a Cioppino. It is a fish stew that stemmed from San Francisco and it is usually made with what ever fish or seafood you have on hand. This recipe I came up with turned out really yummy, even my 4 year old son ate it! It has a lot of ingredients but is well worth the amount of ingredients.


Tools:


Large Sauce Pan
Cutting Board
Knife
Strainer
Measuring Cup


Ingredients:


1 Filet Halibut
1/2 lb Shrimp
1 lb Clams
1 lb Mussels
1 Onion, diced
3 Stalks Celery, diced
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Tomato, de-seeded, diced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
4 Tbs Tomato Paste
1/4 C Sweet White Wine
2 Tbs Olive Oil
2 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tbs Parsley, minced
2 tsp Salt
64 oz Seafood Stock


Directions:


Start by dicing all the veggies, then clean all the seafood. Make sure the clams and mussels have no sand or dirt on them. Heat up the sauce pan with the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the veggies and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent. 

Add the tomato paste. Cook for about 30 seconds and then add the wine. Cook for 2 minutes and add the spices. Then add the seafood stock. Simmer for 30 minutes. 

Then cut the halibut into 2 in chunks. 

Once the 30 minutes is up add the clams and mussels and let them cook for about 7 to 10 minutes. Then add the shrimp to the soup.  Then finally add the halibut to the soup. Let the fish cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until cooked through. 

Once that is finish it is ready to serve, be sure to check the clams and mussels that they are open. The ones that are not open just toss out. 

Enjoy!

Bountiful Baskets

Bountiful Baskets is something I have mentioned in many of my posts. They have great deals for fresh fruit and vegetables among many other side options available. Their conventional basket is $15.00 for vegetable and fruit. This week there was a tropical pack add on to the conventional basket that was available for $10.50.  


Lets take a look at what $15.00 got me in fruits and veggies.

This had 1 bunch of romaine lettuce, 1 head of cabbage, 4 tomatoes, 6 bell peppers, 4 onions, 7 apples, 3lbs of red potatoes, 7 oranges, 1 bunch of asparagus, 1 container of blueberries, and a huge bunch of green beans.  All of this for only $15.00! 

But even with such a great deal of the conventional basket, the biggest deal was the tropical pack.

Lets see what came with the $10.50 tropical pack. 

It came with 2 mango's, 1 green plantain, 6 kiwis, 4 lemons, 1 coconut, 1 pineapple, 1 large bunch of mint, and 2 vanilla beans. This is such a great deal with just one of the items: vanilla beans. In their vanilla bean pod form they are expensive any where you go. I was at the local grocery store tonight and decided to see the cost of just the vanilla bean.

That is right $11.39 for vanilla beans.... correct that for a single vanilla bean. With bountiful baskets just for one single ingredient saved me at least $12.28 and that doesn't even include the other items that came with the tropical pack. 

Bountiful Baskets is such a great deal for everyone and anyone that loves saving money and eating great fruits and veggies! 

Breakfast Bake

I love doing breakfast for dinner, so does my family. I wanted to try something new and tasty. I decided to do a breakfast bake with lots of veggies, prosciutto, and eggs.  This dish is easy to make and really easy to use up any veggies you have before they go bad. There isn't any salt used in this recipe due to the fact of the prosciutto and gorgonzola cheese is salty enough for the whole dish. 


Tools: 


Saute Pan
Baking Dish
Spoon
Knife
Cutting Board


Ingredients:


8 oz Prosciutto or Bacon
1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced
4 Cloves Garlic, diced
2 oz Gorgonzola, crumbled
10 Mushrooms, sliced
10 oz Fresh Spinach, cooked down
6 Eggs, egg yokes and whites separated
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 Tbs Canola Oil
1 Tbs Crisco 


Directions:


Pre-heat oven to 350°f. Grease the baking dish with the crisco. Saute the spinach with 1/2 tbs oil until all is wilted down, set aside.

Saute the garlic, red peppers, and mushrooms with the remaining canola oil and black pepper, cook until peppers are soft. Set aside for assembly. 

Layer all the prosciutto on the bottom of the baking dish.

Layer the spinach on top of the prosciutto. Then layer the peppers and mushrooms on top of the spinach.Top with the gorgonzola cheese. Separate the egg whites from the yokes, keeping the yolks intact.  Whisk the whites until foamed. Pour over the veggies.

Now for the yokes when placed in the oven depends on if you want the yoke completely cooked or runny. If you want them completely cooked place them on top the mixture before putting them in the oven. If you want them runny then wait till the last 5 minutes of the 20 minute baking time to place the yokes on top of the breakfast bake. 

Serve with buttered toast. Enjoy!