Capt. Kidd’s is the go-to fish monger in Redondo Beach where you can also get great Cioppino. Eating there inspired me to look for an easy recipe to tackle. Seafood may not seem like a great crock pot pairing: extended cooking + seafood = rubber. If the seafood is thrown in during the last half hour though, it is a total win for the cod, shrimp, and calamari in this recipe.

Although the name Cioppino is Italian, it’s origin is suggested to be from San Francisco where local fishermen used crabmeat common to those markets. While researching, I also found similar regional dishes for other countries: their versions of Fisherman’s Stew. I had never heard of Brazilian ‘Moqueca’, but I have since visited a restaurant in Oxnard with that exact name: Moqueca Restaurant. You can dine overlooking their little marina and you will not go away hungry. The HUGE bowl for 2 comes still bubbling to the table. (And there was enough left over to take some home.)

Brazillian Moqueca, fisherman’s stew from Moqueca Restaurant in Oxnard. http://www.moquecarestaurant.com

Back to my humble Cioppino —

Photos taken on-the-fly means lighting and composition weren’t really considered. Instead I run the images through a Photoshop filter to make up for lameness. I also found out that food only looks good through a few filters.

Stage 1: First, I turned on the crock pot and started throwing in the first 12 items. Open up the clam juice, pour it in. Open the diced tomatoes, throw ’em in. White wine, a little vinegar, olive oil, a bay leaf. The onions, celery and garlic needed to be chopped but the liquids were already starting to warm & blend once I was ready to add the rest.

Crock-pot Cioppino, gluten-free recipe — Pouring clam juice in to crock-pot. Photoshop filter used: Accented Edges.

I had forgotten to pick up Italian seasoning so I Googled an Italian seasoning recipe to aim for the general ballpark of flavors.

Crock-pot Cioppino — Making homemade Italian seasoning from whatever was on hand. This photo is posterized.

I made exactly the amount I needed and threw it all in.

Below is everything minus seafood, ready for the 4 hours of cookin’ (no work).

Truth be told, I was running a bit behind on time so I increased the temperature for part of the cooking time from low, to high. I made sure to turn down the heat well before the end so the liquid wouldn’t end up overcooking the seafood.

Part 2: About half an hour before I deemed this dish to be complete, I started adding the seafood. A can of clams, but I skipped the can of crab meat. The seafood guy recommended against it because crab has such a delicate flavor. I just might put it in anyway another go-round because the texture would be good. I cut up the cod (which was subbing for Haddock) and proceeded to add it, shelled shrimp, and the calamari tubes and tentacles.

Cioppino recipe, gluten-free — Cod, shrimp and calamari. Photoshop filter used is Accented Edges.

I recently read that cooking shrimp with shells on can really add to the flavor of the soup. It can also make a lot of work for whomever is trying to eat it. My main goal was to make as little work as possible, so I bought already shelled shrimp with the tails still intact.

The finale! There is no rice or anything starchy in this recipe although my photo kind of looks that way. It’s all veg, seafood, spices and liquid. But I did find some excellent gluten-free garlic toasts at Whole Foods. They work great for french onion soup too.

Thank you to: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/seafood-cioppino
See recipe at the bottom of the post.

Seafood Cioppino Recipe

Directions

In a 4- or 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the first 12 ingredients. Cook, covered, on low 4-5 hours.
Stir in seafood. Cook, covered, 20-30 minutes longer or until fish just begins to flake easily with a fork and shrimp turn pink.
Remove bay leaf. Stir in parsley. Yield: 8 servings (2-1/2 quarts).