Oven Cioppino

Last week we had some friends from work over for dinner. The pressure was on, because one of the guests has been a restaurant manager. He told stories about Gordon Ramsay. Gulp. But everyone seemed to like this dish, which I made by heavily adapting a recipe from Joyce Goldstein'sThe Mediterranean Kitchen. This is a really nice dish for entertaining because you can make the "sauce" ahead and then pop in the fish/seafood right before you want to serve it. I served it with grits/polenta (no-one at the table had ever had grits before, and I have never heard the word "grits" spoken so many times during the course of one meal as I did then).

Use whatever kind of seafood you like and is abundant in your area. If you're in California/on the West Coast, use cracked Dungeness crab! Please?

Oven Cioppino

(for about 8 people)

3 onions, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 red pepper, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

4 bay leaves

4 sprigs thyme

1 T. red pepper flakes

1 T. fennel seed

Salt and pepper

3-4 T. olive oil

1/2 c. red wine

1 large can whole Italian tomatoes

Seafood of your choice: I used about a pound of shrimp, a whole monkfish, and about 20 scallops.

Heat the oven to 425. Line a large rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment or heavy-duty foil. Pour a bit of the olive oil on it. Then pile on the onions, celery, carrots, pepper, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, red pepper, fennel, and salt and pepper to taste (I probably used about 1/2 t. salt). Sprinkle with more olive oil and the red wine, and pour over the can of tomatoes (if you're more dextrous than I, squish up the tomatoes a bit with your hands). Mix that well and then put in the oven to roast for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables have browned nicely. When you're just about ready to eat, arrange the seafood atop the sauce, sprinkle with a bit more wine and/or olive oil if you feel like it, and return to the oven for about 5-10 minutes, depending on what kind of seafood you're using. Serve with grits, polenta, and/or sourdough bread.