Cioppino fish stew

A hearty fish stew that doesn’t scrimp on seafood – make sure you serve with a chunk of crusty bread to soak up the juices.

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Ingredients

For the sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
50g tin anchovies in oil, finely chopped (oil reserved)
8 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 litres fresh fish stock (homemade, ideally – use our recipe here)
3 fresh bay leaves
2 tsp fennel seeds
Small bunch fresh flatleaf parsley and leaves from a few fresh thyme sprigs and rosemary sprigs, finely chopped, plus extra thyme to serve
3 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato purée
500ml dry white wine
A few drops Tabasco sauce
A few drops Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
Chilli flakes to taste

For the fish

20 baby clams, cleaned
20 small mussels, cleaned and beards removed
500g cod, halibut or other meaty white fish, cut into 2cm pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
20 small to medium sustainably sourced prawns, peeled
1 squid, around 200g, cleaned, beak and feather removed, sliced into rings and tentacles
10 queen scallops
300g white crabmeat
Crusty bread to serve

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To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a very large pot (that has a lid) over a medium heat. Add the onions and anchovies with their oil and cook for about 8 minutes until the onions are translucent and soft, and the anchovies have dissolved.
Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Pour in 1 litre of the fish stock, along with the remaining sauce ingredients. Simmer and reduce (uncovered) for about 2 hours, adding the remaining stock after 1 hour. The sauce should be quite thick, like tomato soup.
Add the clams, mussels and white fish, then cover with the lid. After 3-4 minutes, remove the lid and throw away any shellfish that haven’t opened.
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Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a frying pan until very hot. Sear the prawns for 1 minute until just pink, then add them to the sauce. Sear the squid and scallops for 1 minute in the same pan (don’t overcook them or they will become tough), then add to the sauce.
Stir the crabmeat into the sauce, then simmer for 3-4 minutes until warmed through. Taste and season, add a few thyme leaves, then serve with crusty bread.

For 8 servings

Make the sauce up to 2 days ahead, cool and chill in a sealed container. Bring to a simmer, then continue from step 3.