Italian Seafood Stew and Flat Bread (義式燉海鮮, 義式薄麵包)

We went to Cafe Santorini, a Mediterranean restaurant in Old Town Pasadena, over a weekend in late February, 2015. Their Cioppino, the San Francisco-style seafood stew was excellent! And their free dinner bread, Focaccia, an Italian flat bread, was a perfect fit for the seafood sauce. We came back craving for more. So, we searched online for recipes, and tried our hands on them almost immediately. Here is our take based on several excellent sources (see references below). BTW, Cioppino is an Italian-American dish, invented in San Francisco as a stew for catches of the day (from the sea), whereas Focaccia seems to be genuinely Italian.

I. Cioppino- San Francisco-Style Seafood Stew (義式燉海鮮)

For the sauce, we followed the recipe from Epiurious pretty closely, with some changes in the procedure and the ingredients.

1. Sauce-  In a large-sized (10-12" in diameter) flat bottom cooking pan: (1) pour 2-4 Tbsp of olive oil (or veggie oil), add 4 cloves of minced garlic, and saute 2 chopped onions and 1 diced green pepper, for 5 minutes (or until onion is translucent and bell pepper soft); (2) add 1 can (28-oz) of tomato sauce (or 1 28-oz can of diced tomatoes plus 4 fresh diced medium-sized Roma tomatoes; (3) Add 2 6.5-oz cans of chopped clams (or 1 bottle of clam juice); (4) add 1 cup of red wine and 1 cup of chicken broth; (5) season with 1 tsp of hot pepper flakes,  1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt; (6) bring to boil and let simmer for ~60 minutes (with the pot covered); (7) let the sauce cool, and use a blender to puree the sauce (to make the sauce thick and consistent).  Note- The sauce can be prepared beforehand and chilled in the fridge.
2. Seafood- We used mostly frozen stuff (clams, mussels, squid, fish fillet, and shrimp), for the first try. We cooked everything except the shrimp in a pot with chicken broth and water for 4-5 minutes, then add the shrimp in until the shrimp turns pink (about 30-45 seconds. Try not to overcook the shrimp!)  
3. Linguine- In the meantime, we cooked linguine in a separate pot for about 10 minutes (uncovered), or follow the cooking instructions on the linguine package.  
4. Heat up the sauce. This might also be the time to place some Foccaccia (see below) in the toaster oven.
5. With a large plate, set the linguine at the bottom, then place the seafood on top, finally ladle the sauce generously into the plate. Garnish with fresh basil leaves if desired, and serve with toasted Focaccia in a separate plate or basket.

II. Focaccia- Italian Flat Bread (義式薄麵包)

We followed the recipe on Inspired Taste pretty closely, with some changes in procedure and yeast mix.

1. Heat 1/2 cup of olive oil with 1 tsp of dry thyme, 1 tsp of dry rosemary, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 1/4 tsp of black pepper, in a very small pot (4"-5" in diameter), at low heat for 2-3 minutes.  Set it aside and let cool.  Note- Smaller pot tends to heat up a lot faster than a pan (turn off heat after 2-3 minutes, and let cook in residual heat).  
2. Proof the yeast mix in a measuring cup for 5 minutes (with 2.25 tsp dry yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 cup of warm water; make sure the water is not too hot! Lower than 90-deg-F.)
3. Place 1 cup of flour into the big bowl, add 1/4 cup (i.e., half) of the cooled oil-herb-mix, stir evenly and let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Add 1.5 cups of flour into the mixing bowl, stir evenly, and form a well.  Pour the yeast mix into the well, stir evenly with a plastic or wooden spatula.  Flip the dough from the edges to the center with a spatula for 10-12 times (see special note below). Drip in a bit olive oil along the edge of bowl with the dough in place.  Let the dough rise in the bowl under a warm, damp cloth for an hour.  Special Note- No kneading necessary.  Kneading will make the bread dense, rather than light and flaky (see ATK reference below).
5. At this point, we still have half of the oil-herb-mix (~4 Tbsp) left in the small pot.  Use 2 Tbsp of the oil-herb mix to oil a 9x13 baking pan.  Place the risen dough into the pan, press the dough flat into the pan with both palms, and press on the dough with 10 fingers evenly to form dimples on the surface of the now flattened surface.  Drizzle the dough surface with the rest of the oil-herb-mix  Let the dough sit in the pan for 20  minutes (still in a warm place, but no need to cover with damp cloth, as the dough is now covered in oil).
6. Preheat the oven to 450-deg-F, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown.  Let cool and serve with Cioppino.  A picture of the finished product is shown below.
   

References
Ciopinno-
- http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cioppino-106263;
- http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/cioppino-recipe.html;
- http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cioppino/#ixzz3SSUxZtmv
Focaccia-
- http://www.inspiredtaste.net/19313/easy-focaccia-bread-recipe-with-herbs/,
- (ATK) America's Test Kitchen's TV Show Cookbook 2001-2013