Recipe from the Twit Army Mess hall - Cioppino

Ingredients:

• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups dry red wine, I use chianti
• 1 (28- to 32-ounces) can whole plum tomatoes, drained, reserving juice, and chopped
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 (1-pound) king crab leg, thawed if frozen and cut into 2 to 3 inch pieces, **
• 18 small (2-inch) hard-shelled clams (1 1/2 pound) such as littlenecks, scrubbed
• 1 pound skinless red snapper or halibut fillets, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 pound large shrimp (16 to 20), shelled (tails and bottom segment of shells left intact) and deveined**
• 3/4 pound sea scallops, tough muscle removed from side of each if necessary
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

Preparation:

Cook garlic, onions, bay leaf, oregano, and red pepper flakes with salt and pepper in oil in an 8-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil until reduced by about half (it will start to look a little syrupy), this should take 5 to 6 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juice, clam juice, and broth and simmer, covered, 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  At this point you can cool the broth & store it in the refrigerator until the next day.  One hour before serving take out of the refrigerator and warm slowly over medium heat until just about boiling (so that the seafood will cook properly)

Add crab pieces or crab meat and clams to stew and simmer, covered, until clams just open, 5 to 10 minutes, checking every minute after 5 minutes and transferring opened clams to a bowl with tongs or a slotted spoon. (Discard any unopened clams after 10 minutes.) Lightly season fish fillets, shrimp, and scallops with salt and add to stew, then simmer, covered, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaf, then return clams to pot and gently stir in parsley and basil.

Serve cioppino immediately in large soup bowls.

Serves 6 to 8

This recipe can be easily doubled if you have a large enough pot but not made smaller, you need to have that much broth for the seafood to cook properly.

** if king crab is not available you can substitute frozen crab meat (just not surimi it's too sweet) but then leave the shells on the shrimp.  You'll have to clean the shrimp but you need to have the shells in the broth for the flavor.  

Report from the Twit Army Mess Hall - Chicken Stew, Cajun Style

Ingredients:

3 lbs of bone-in chicken parts (I use thighs & legs)
Kosher salt
3 tbl vegetable oil
1/2 c. flour
1 large celery rib, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
3 c. water or chicken broth (I use the broth, adds more flavor to the gravy)
1/4 tsp cayenne or cajun style seasoning (I use 1/8th of each again it adds more complexity to the gravy)
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

Preparation:

Wash & salt the chicken to taste. In a dutch oven (preferably cast iron) large enough to hold all the chicken, place 1/2 the oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Brown the chicken in batches (about 5 minutes per side) and place in a bowl to catch all the drippings. Add enough additional oil to the pot to make up about 1/4 cup of oil in total, add the flour and scrape, not stir, for about 15 minutes until the flour is the color of a milk chocolate candy bar. Add the vegetables and cook until the onion is soft but not browned scraping the pot occasionally (don't stir), about 8 minutes. Add the broth, or water, and bring to a boil. This will look really strange (the roux will look like curdled lumps sticking to everything at first) until it comes to a boil when the roux will melt into the broth, just have faith & keep stirring. Add the chicken, partially cover the pot & cook for about 30 minutes until the chicken is done. At this point you can take the pot off the heat and either refrigerate it until the next day or just let the pot keep it warm for up to 1 hour. Right before serving add the cayenne & other seasonings, reheat until just below the boiling point, add the green onions & serve over rice.

Serves 4.