Christmas Eve Dinner ~ Cioppino with Leafy Fennel Salad
For the past 11 years I have been making a seafood stew (cioppino in Italian) for our Christmas Eve meal. Being Italian and first born in Canada, I was never exposed to a traditional North American Christmas dinner. The general Italian custom is to have your most important meal on Christmas Eve and usually it revolves around seafood. When Sugo Sauce was born as a product I would bring it to family and friend’s homes to contribute to the meal, and cooking in the kitchen creatively together with those I love is my most favourite thing to do.
One Christmas Eve, I visited friends who lived on their big boat in Coal Harbor (downtown Vancouver) and brought an Arrabbiata Sugo Sauce. My friends and I love seafood and one of them was born and raised in Finland where they also enjoy seafood on Christmas Eve. We were inspired to make something seafoody and use the Sugo Sauce I brought. My friends had frozen crab stock, local prawns from their summer catches and had dropped by Granville Island for cod, salmon, squid, mussels and other stuff that I can’t even remember exactly, there was so much. That Christmas Eve inspired the recipe below, that has been tweaked and altered over the past years, but this version is my personal favourite.
CIOPPINO
feeds 4ppl
1 Pouch/Jar Arrabbiata Sugo Sauce
1 Bottle average white wine
2 Shallots
2 Garlic cloves
1 Cup butter salted
*750ml of seafood stock - optional - you can also use another bottle of white in its place (which is what I tend to do these days because I don’t live on a boat and fish over the summer, lol)
1/2 Bulb of fresh fennel + 1/2 cup of the fennel leaves/needles
1.5 Ib Prawns large with shell on (about 20-24)
400g Cod fish fillet
200g Mussels with shell
PROCESS
• In your largest pot, add diced garlic, shallot and fennel with a chunk of butter and sauté until there’s some caramelization
• Add Arrabbiata Sugo Sauce, stock/bottle of white wine and the rest of the butter, let simmer together for around 5-10 mins
• Add mussels, then chunks (about 1.5 inch pieces) of cod fish and let simmer low for a few minutes until the mussel shells begin opening
• Add another bottle of wine
• When mussel shells are almost open, add prawns with shell on and simmer on low until they have turned bright orange, turn element to “warm”
• Add the sprigs of fennel leaves/needles, mix and serve
*Serving suggestion: Serve with large chunks of fresh sourdough rye that’s homemade (or that quality) and soft butter for extra decadence (but not crucial because there’s a ton in the sauce)
*Fun suggestion: Save some of the broth to make Christmas morning caesar cocktails
LEAFY FENNEL (DIGESTIVE) SALAD
1/2 Bulb of fresh fennel + 2/3 stems + 1/4 cup of the fennel leaves/needles
1 Head Red Leaf or Green Leaf lettuce
2 Cups fresh arugula leaves
1/3 Sweet onion (large)
1/2 Head Radicchio
1/2 Pomegranate fresh seeds
1 Tblsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Tblsp Champagne vinegar (or any light sweeter vinegar works well) but you can also sub wine vinegar if that’s all you have
1 Tsp Flake sea salt
1/4 Tsp Fresh ground black pepper
PROCESS
• Soak lettuce, arugula, radicchio leaves in ice cold water
• Mandoline (slice very thin) fennel bulb and stems and sweet onion, put aside
• Release seeds from the pomegranate, put aside
• Spin/dry all whole leaves, put in a large bowl
• Hand tear odd shaped large bite-sized pieces of lettuce and radicchio
• In the bowl, add sliced fennel and the leaves/needles, sweet onion and pomegranate seeds
• Mix with hands and dress to serve or if you are not ready to eat - put the bowl undressed into the fridge to keep cold and crunchy
• When ready to dress/eat - drizzle the olive oil first and mix to make sure there is a thin coat oil on everything, sprinkle flake salt everywhere and drizzle vinegar
• Mix salad gently with hands or utensils and fresh grind black pepper
~ By Maya Sciarretta @mayasciarrettaog
