Sam's Club Has Great Big Bags Of Food - Hurray! - Slow Cooker Mixed Seafood Cioppino

We do enjoy hitting Sam's Club and gazing at the ginormous things to buy. On a prior trip, I had made note of a huge bag (3 1/2 pounds) of frozen mixed seafood, and had decided that when we went back there, I'd buy it and make cioppino. Even better, I'd make slow cooker Cioppino.

The mixed seafood contained white fish, shrimp, mussels, squid, octopus and surimi (fake crab). I elected to remove the octopus and squid for another time since I was unsure that the cooking time specified by the slow cooker recipe for crab (for which I was substituting mixed seafood) would be enough to make them tender and not chewy. They will feature in a spicy Korean stir fry dish later called Nakji Bokum. Think I'll do a Red Cabbage and Kimchi salad with it. Yum!

Cioppino is basically a Fisherman's catch of the day leftovers dish. It was invented in San Francisco by fishermen who would cook up a bit of crab, clams, shrimp, scallops and white-fleshed fish separated from the more sale-able versions in the catch. They are cooked in a base of tomato soup flavored with onions, garlic and basil. This recipe comes out a bit thick, so you can save some of it for pasta sauce and thin the rest with some vegetable broth or wine.

Serve with crusty bread or garlic the bread up like we did with herb garlic bread. This is not a delicate dish to eat. Use your hands, have plenty of napkins, wear bibs if you have to. There will be mess.

Mangia!

Slow Cooker Mixed Seafood Cioppino
Adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook

1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
2 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, drained a bit
1 cup dry white wine
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (Next time I make this, it will be with The Colonel's homegrown basil....what a man!)
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
3.5 pound bag frozen mixed seafood, thawed; or 1 pound 19 to 20 count shrimp with their tails on, peeled and deveined; 1/2 to 1 pound sea scallops; 1 pound white-fleshed fish fillets and 1/2 pound mussels.

Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet, and cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker and add the tomato sauce and tomatoes, wine, bay leaf, basil, crush red pepper and oregano. Break up tomatoes with your hands as you add them. Cover and cook on Low for 4 to 6 hours.

Season with salt and pepper and add seafood. Cook on High for 30 to 40 minutes, or until shrimp are opaque.