Crab and Italian Sausage Cioppino

by Crab-O-Licious
(Pacific Northwest)

This Crab and Italian Sausage Cioppino is a perfect winter warm-up and hearty crab soup recipe that makes enough to feed a small army! We found this pearl in Crab (Northwest Homegrown Cookbook Series) The crab soup recipe calls for Dungeness Crab, but can be made with Blue, Snow Crab or King Crab and you can always add other seafood's with it, such as clams or mussels.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon-Olive Oil


• 1 1/2 Pounds-Hot or Mild Italian Sausages


• 1 Cup-Chopped Onion


• 1/3 Cup-Diced Celery


• 1 Cup-Sliced Green Onion


• 1/2 Cup-Diced Green Bell Pepper


• 3 Tablespoons-Minced Garlic


• 1 Pound-Fresh Italian Plum Tomatoes (peeled, seeded and diced) or, 2 Cans-Italian-style canned tomatoes


• 2 Cups-Fish or Chicken Stock


• 1 Cup-Bottled Clam Juice


• 1/2 Cup-Dry Red Wine


• 1/4 Cup-Tomato Paste


• 1/4 Cup-Lemon Juice


• 4 Bay Leaves


• 2 Teaspoons-Minced Thyme
  
• 2 Teaspoons-Minced Basil


• 3 Whole Dungeness Crabs-pre-cooked, cleaned, portioned and leg shells slightly cracked


• Salt and Pepper-to taste

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch Oven or larger pot (about 8 quarts) over medium heat. Add the sausages whole and fry until they are firm and lightly browned, turning them often for about 10 minutes. Set the sausages aside to cool and spoon out any left over fat in the pot and discard the excess.

Add the onion and celery and cook till tender for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the green pepper, green onion, and garlic and cook for 2 minutes longer.

Cut the sausages into 1 inch pieces and put them back in the pot along with the tomatoes, stock, clam juice, wine, tomato paste, lemon juice, bay leaves, basil, and thyme. Bring just to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the crab pieces (and any other seafood you may choose to add), cover the pot, and cook for about 15-20 minutes.

Season the cioppino to taste with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice as you prefer. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Serve at once! Serves 6-8.




Check out more information about Crab and find more delicious crab soup recipes and more...