1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium sized carrot, finely chopped
1/2 medium sized green bell pepper, chopped
1 small leek, white part only, chopped
1 small stalk celery, chopped
1 tbsp fresh fennel, chopped
28-oz can crushed tomatoes with puree
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp fresh basil, minced
1/2 tsp fresh oregano, minced
1/4 tsp fresh thyme, minced
4 bay leaves
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
1 lb white fish, cut into 1/2x2" strips
8 lg shrimp, shelled and deveined
8 lg scallops
1/2 cup Sauvignon Blanc wine
1/2 cup clam juice
8 small clams in shell, scrubbed
4 oz cooked shrimp meat
6 oz cooked crab meat
Italian parsley, chopped

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in Dutch oven or large heavy pan over medium heat. Add onions and saute 1 minute without browning. Add carrot, green pepper,leek, celery and fennel and saute 5 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, bay leaves and cayenne pepper. Partially cover and simmer over low heat 2 hours, stirring occasionally. (Sauce can be covered and kept warm over low heat for several hours longer. Stir occasionally.) Remove bay leaves.

Heat remaining 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and cook 5 seconds. Immediately add fish, shrimp and scallops. Saute until just cook through, 2-4 minutes. Add seafood to sauce and stir gently.

Pour wine into skillet and cook 30 seconds over medium heat, stirring up any loose bits. Add clams to skillet. Cover and cook until clams open, 2-6 minutes. Transfer clams as they open to sauce. Discard any that do not open. Gently stir shrimp and crab meat into sauce. Cover and cook cioppino until all seafood is hot, 2-3 minutes longer.

Ladle cioppino into large casserole or soup tureen or directly into shallow soup plates. Garnish with chopped Italian Parsley.

NOTE: Cioppino is a seafood stew born and developed in San Francisco decades ago. To this day, it remains strictly a San Francisco dish, served only in restaurants in the city and surrounding bay area.