Seafood Cioppino

Ingredients:

½ lb. shrimp, scallops, crabmeat, mussels
1 lb. white fish (halibut, sea bass, talapia)
8 fresh clams
one can canned clams and clam broth
5 large diced tomatoes
1 cup red or white wine
1 cube chicken bullion or 1 cup clam juice
1 large onion
1 red bell pepper- sliced into thin strips

olive oil, butter
1 pinch of saffron
1/4 tsp.  ground thyme
2 cloves garlic minced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp basil

Garnish
1/2 tsp. parsley
Red Pepper Flakes

Cooking:

1. Saute onion until transparent in olive oil
2. Add red pepper strips and a pat of butter for flavor. Cook until soften.
3. Add diced tomatoes cook until soft.
4. Add white or red wine, crushed chicken bullion cube, clam juice [drained juice from can of clams].
5. Reserve the clams from the can to add to the sauce later.
6. Add herbs and seasoning
7. when the sauce is hot, add the seafood in this order with a lid on the pot:
   - Fresh Crab (let simmer for 5 min)
   - White fish
   - Whole live clams
   - Mussels
   [let the shells open up- when the shells have opened you can add the other seafood in the following order. If any of the shellfish shells do not open after a few minutes and all the others have opened- throw the unopened ones out- they are bad].
8. - Remaining clams reserved from the can
   - Shrimp
   - Scallops
   [Cook these last items just for a few minutes- if you overcook they will become tough].
9. Serve over fettucini and sprinkle with parsley and red pepper flakes