Guy's Big Bite (2006–…): Season 18, Episode 5 - Holiday by the Bay - full transcript

Welcome to "Big Bite."

You know, during the holidays,

you can expect three things to
happen here at the Fieri house.

One -- we will have no snow
'cause we're in California.

Two -- there will be
a lot of laughs.

There's a lot of laughs
when my family comes together.

And three -- without question,
we will eat Dungeness crab,

I mean, in any way,
shape, or form we can get it.

So that's what we're gonna do is
an old classic with a new spin,

starting off with
my grilled seafood cioppino.

Packed with beautiful
Dungeness crab, sea scallops,



halibut, and jumbo shrimp,
all served with a smokey,

fire-roasted tomato
and vegetable puree,

and grilled polenta
with peppers and Pecorino.

It's got flavor.
It's got texture.

And it's the perfect thing
to round out this holiday meal.

So, lemon juice, tons of it,

because, believe it or not,
I'm gonna marinate the seafood,

which I'll get into
in just a second,

but I had to get this
out of the way 'cause

nothing more exciting
than just sitting here

and squeezing all this
lemon juice by yourself.

Let's talk about the polenta
and the peppers.

Hang tight.

Couple red and a couple Anaheim,



and this is gonna be great
flavor, as well as great color.

And I'll tell you one thing
we love around here,

it's polenta.

I mean, it's --
I don't know what it is.

It's something about being warm.

It's something
about being thick.

It's something
about the fact I love grits.

I don't know,
but polenta plays in.

A little bit of olive oil,

a little salt and pepper
to that, and a super hot grill.

Okay.

And all I'm gonna do here
is roast these off

and then take 'em, throw 'em
back in this bowl, sweat 'em,

and then later,
I'll take the seeds

and the skins and the stems off.

Okay?
Ready for the start of the show?

Hang tight.

Seafood.

This is the bounty
of the county.

Oh.

Huh?
Look at that.

Now I said that, you know,
the crab, the Dungeness,

that's the big player here,

but I had to go grab everything
they had down at the market.

So, first, the Dungeness crab.

Now they have been cleaned,
but I like to keep the shell

just because it
makes a nice presentation.

So you've these beautiful
Dungeness crab.

And this is really the king
of the crab, in our opinion,

here in Northern California.

We're talking about buttery,
sweet meat.

You're getting
a really good yield.

You get a ton of crab
out of this.

All that body meat is fantastic,
and, putting it on the grill,

I know it sounds crazy,
but you're gonna love it.

Then we have some big
jumbo prawns.

These are like four to a pound.

And anytime you
can grill it with a shell on,

we know that's great flavor,

but then to grill it
with the head on?

Not only is the presentation
awesome,

but the flavor goes crazy.

And then some halibut.

You can use whatever type
of fish you want,

but I'm looking for a nice,
firm white fish.

Typically, a cioppino
is cooked in the sauce,

all the seafood goes into
the sauce at different times.

But we're gonna grill this.
Just grill it to perfection

and then add it
to this grilled sauce.

Outrageous.
And then scallops, of course.

I mean, look at these beautiful,
big, fat scallops,

and we're gonna do it
on a hot grill, just gonna sear

'em a little bit.
Fantastic.

But let's talk
about this marinade.

A monster bowl...

a bounty of lemon juice...

some salt.

Don't have to go too heavy
on the salt.

Granted, it all
came out of the sea.

Black pepper.

Just get in
with a little garlic.

And I'm just gonna rough chop
that garlic.

This will break down.

It'll share its flavor.

A little white wine.

And another one of my favorites
when it comes to seafood

is some capers.

They couldn't make
the jar any smaller.

And they start falling
all over the place.

Okay.

Just like I do with the garlic,
just give 'em a little pop,

just to kind
of open it up a bit.

And, last but not least,
you think of the spice.

Man, I been to
some cioppino feeds.

Whoo!
I mean, it is all spice.

so we'll just add a little bit
of chili flake to this.

And then, to coat it all,

to help all this great flavor
stick to this seafood,

a little bit of olive oil, okay?

Let me give this a quick whisk.

Now I'll turn this a few times
as I let it marinate.

But what we're gonna
do right now,

we'll drop that nice,
big piece of halibut in there.

That's what we're talkin' about.

Then we'll get
those scallops in.

Beautiful.

We'll throw in --
I'm gonna pop that crab in half

just like that.

Excellent.

The other one -- Look at this,
and this is so fresh.

There we go, down the side.

And then we'll throw prawns
that will take it real quick.

So grab this and a little foil,
and we'll go back.

'Cause what do you want? You
want your seafood nice and cold.

We'll throw a little cover
on top of that.

Now I got to wash my hands.
Okay?

All right.

All right.

Now keepin' that cold 'cause
you want that seafood cold,

just like when you get it
at the market.

All right.
Now let's get into some polenta.

So I've got some boiling water.

Oh, I forgot a leg.

Ah.

One down.

Okay.

Let me give these a little turn
real quick.

That's right.
That's what we're looking for,

nice char on 'em.

We wanna talk about charring 'em
but not burning the flesh.

I don't wanna burn all the way
through the pepper,

so this is exactly
where we want to go.

And if you don't have an outdoor
grill, don't worry about that.

Doing them in the oven,
super easy way to go.

4½ cups of boiling water.

I've got wet hands.

I'm gonna do the salt
with a spoon,

and a little bit of salt,

and let's get into some polenta.

Now, polenta, grits,
call it what you want.

All I know
is we're talking creamy.

We're talking great texture.

We're talking an Italian staple.

We're talking a Southern staple,

my mom
coming from North Carolina.

So this is perfect
to play into the holidays.

About 1 1/2 cups,
a little bit of salt.

Just slowly whisk these in,
not wanting them to clump up.

There we go.

Huh?

Wait till you see what I do
with these grits.

Oh-ho.

This is all about holidays,
'cause holidays for us,

you know,
the kids are out of school,

lots of family coming over,
a lot of friends.

Of course,
what they're expecting

is to walk
into a nice presentation.

Well, I'm gonna
give 'em that and then some.

Okay.

There you go.

Polenta's working.

I'll grab the peppers,
wrap 'em with some plastic,

sweat 'em,
gonna peel 'em in a little bit.

The seafood's hanging out.
Come back.

we're doing a holiday cioppino
that no one will forget.

See ya in a little bit.

Welcome back to "Big Bite."

You don't even have to ask
what time of year it is.

You can tell
from beautiful Dungeness crab

at the Fieri house that it
must be around the holidays

because, man,
if we're eating one thing,

we're eating Dungeness.

So look at this beautiful
marinating setup I have here.

I mean, I've got everything from
jumbo prawns to Dungeness crab

to an enormous piece of halibut

all sitting down
in this delicious marinade

of garlic and chili flake
and capers, a lot of white wine,

a little olive oil,

and a lot of lemon juice,
a lot of lemon juice.

But look at these --
look at this size scallop.

Now, I'm making cioppino.
Now, we all love cioppino.

We all have
our favorite cioppino.

And if you don't know
what cioppino is,

we're talking
about a tomato base stock

that has fresh seafood in it.

And they said that it was
invented here in San Francisco

about an hour away.

And the beauty of it is
is it can kind of take

on whatever seafood
you have available.

The key is,
treat the seafood the right way.

So I've got
this sitting here marinating.

And just --
Ah, it's gonna be fantastic

because I'm going
to grill this cioppino.

I haven't seen it done before.

I've done cioppino
on "Big Bite" before,

but not in the grilled fashion.

And I was out here doin' it,
I said, "You know what?

I really wanna get everything
out of this seafood."

So to grill it,
I can really watch how it cooks,

and I don't have it just
simmering in the sauce,

but I still make the sauce
and add it to the seafood.

You're gonna love this.
All right. Let me put this away.

Keeping the seafood cold.

And let's get into the polenta.

That's what's gonna
go alongside here.

We love our polenta
around the Fieri house.

So I've got
some roasted peppers --

roasted red bell peppers
and some green Anaheims,

so just a little bit
of heat from that.

A little salt, a little
olive oil, little pepper,

threw 'em on the grill,

then threw 'em in a bowl,
let 'em sweat, cleaned 'em up,

and took the stems and the seeds
and everything out of 'em.

And now I'm gonna mix 'em
into this really nice,

hearty polenta, lay it out
on a tray, let it cool a bit.

And then I'll pop it
into the oven.

The key is, I'm just gonna
add a bunch of cheese.

Okay.

Lookin' good with that.

Slide this over.

Heavy bottom pot always
helps to not burn the polenta.

Ton of peppers going in.

Okay.
Pecorino -- let's talk about it.

Super nice and salty.

You can smell it.

Okay.
So about 1 cup.

Maybe I gave it
a little extra there.

Give this a little stir.

Awesome color
coming through that.

I already added a little bit
of salt to that.

I have to watch it
because that cheese --

that cheese
itself is pretty salty.

Okay.

And just a little butter.

It's a warm day here.

That's how the holidays are

in Northern California,
nice and warm.

I'm standing out here in shorts.

Okay, got that.

Sheet tray, a little bit
of olive oil,

cooking spray if you have it,
just so it doesn't stick.

Okay.

Ah, that's what I thought
was gonna happen.

Excuse me. We got to break out
the rubber spatula.

Ah, this is gonna
be so worth it.

A lot of steps in this,

but if you like polenta
like I do, you'll get it.

Okay.

And now we'll just smooth
it out, still nice and hot.

Fantastic.

Okay.

Set that aside.

Now let's talk about the sauce

that's gonna go with
the cioppino.

What do we need?

Exactly.
A bunch of vegetables.

So I'm gonna grab
the whole bowl.

Almost gonna use
every bit of this,

but we'll jump in here.

Okay.

Let's take this,
get that, here we go.

Grab a tray 'cause I'm gonna put
a little marinade

on these as we work.

So the first thing
I'm gonna start off with --

oh -- is a bunch
of Roma tomatoes.

Last of the Romas.

Tomato sauce and cioppino --
hand in hand.

Next up, red bell pepper.

Red bell pepper and a big onion.

One more -- the fennel.

The key here
is to keep these fronds.

We'll hold those to the side.

Fennel and cioppino -- you wanna
talk about something

going hand in hand, that's like
Bogie and Bacall right there.

I don't know
why I used Bogie and Bacall.

I haven't used
that line in a long time.

Okay.
So there's fennel.

There's that.
Now check this out.

Get a little bit of olive oil,

little bit of salt,
touch of some black pepper.

Believe it or not, we're gonna
hit it with a little fennel.

Fennel's a strong flavor
in this cioppino.

Okay.
We add a little fennel seeds.

And we'll hit it
with a little red chili flake.

Again, spice
is a key piece, as well.

And the last thing, and this
is not what you're expecting

'cause you know
garlic's gonna come into play,

but not the way that we're gonna
do garlic like this.

So we're gonna cut the top off.

Shout it out
if you know the answer.

Exactly.
We're gonna roast the garlic

like this.

Great way -- Roasting garlic --
I'm telling ya --

You've got the oven hot.
You're gonna do it.

You know you'll use
roasted garlic.

Get a little bit of olive oil,
some salt, black pepper.

We're gonna kind of just nest
this up a little bit.

It'll steam as it roasts.

Give it a little breathing room
like that.

Over to the grill.

Now I'll lay that bad boy there.

Start to throw the fennel on,

throw the peppers,
just keep an eye on it.

And, you know, here's
the cool thing about this.

This is one of those things
that you can grill.

You don't have to worry
about how ugly it looks

because this is all gonna
get pureed up.

So if it has a little extra char
to it, fantastic.

That's a little extra flavor.

Look at that.

See if I can kinda slide 'em on.
Ah.

Tell me that doesn't look great
already.

And to think this is all gonna

come together
for a seafood dish.

That's my idea, right there.
Okay.

So here we go.
Saving those fronds.

Roasting the veggies.

The seafood is down.

Last thing I'm gonna do
is take this polenta,

bake it off in the oven.

We're gonna cut that.
We're gonna grill it later.

Come on back.

This is how we celebrate
the holidays at the Fieri house.

See ya in a bit.

Welcome back.
I'm making cioppino.

Well, actually,
grilled cioppino.

It's the holiday times

here at the Fieri casa,
and look at this.

I've got everything
from roasted grilled onions,

Roma tomatoes, fennel.

Whoo.
Hot grill.

Yeah, that's what we do
in the holiday times here,

is grill our vegetables.

But I'm gonna make
this fantastic cioppino.

I've got a bunch of seafood
that's in the fridge right now

just marinating
in lemon juice, white wine,

garlic, capers, you name it.

And this right here, well,
this is the cioppino sauce.

You don't typically see it as

a fire-roasted cioppino sauce,
but I'll tell ya somethin' --

We're gonna highlight that
seafood incredibly with this.

A little bit of chicken stock,
drop this on.

Now I took the seeds

and the stems
out of the bell pepper,

but otherwise,
everybody's in there.

Look at all that char
and all those bits.

All right.

That's my kind
of cioppino sauce --

fire roasted, right on.

There we go.
And if it gets too thick,

I got a little chicken stock
to thin it out.

But right now, oh, you
should taste the fennel in that.

Righteous.
Okay.

Let's take a look at that.
Now, inside here --

inside here,
take a look at this.

Roasting off this polenta,
and it's about ready to go.

So I'm gonna pull it out,
let it cool down a little bit,

and then we'll be able to grill
that in a bit.

All right, now --
Oh, you know what?

I'm forgetting the key
to this whole thing.

Check this out.

Hiding under here...

I started this garlic up on top,

but it wasn't roasting enough.

So down here in the coals,
I've got my roasted garlic.

And we'll just -- Of course,

you got to have garlic
in your cioppino.

Check that out.

I'll just let that chill,
cool down for a second.

Let's grab the seafood.
Okay.

Scallops, halibut, big prawns,

and, of course,
Dungeness crab all coming over.

Isn't that beautiful?

Look at that.

So we have the capers,
the lemon juice, the white wine,

a little chili flake,
a bunch of garlic, of course.

So let me lower this grate.

Okay. A little fennel seeds
were coming off of there.

Now, this is where this kind

of gets into
some decision-making process.

What do I want to add first?

Well, I got the hard shell
of the crab.

and it's pretty industrial.

I mean, it can --
it can handle the heavy heat.

So I'm gonna
throw that on first.

Now I've got some really tender
scallops.

I don't wanna put those on
right now.

That crab's gonna
take a little bit of time.

The shrimp, they're protected
also with their shell,

these prawns, so I'm gonna
go ahead and throw those on.

The scallops
are gonna be the ones

that I'm really gonna wait
just till the last minute

'cause all I want to do
is just char it a little bit.

That sauce is gonna be warm,

so when the scallops
go in there,

they'll just
finish cooking right there.

Look at that.
You should smell it right now.

I mean, it smells like a --
almost kind of like a crab boil,

or like when you're cooking
some --

some oysters on the grill.

Look at that.

Okay.

And here we go.
I'm gonna put the fish on.

It'll probably go on last
and come off first.

Nestle that right
in on top of there.

And then I'm just gonna hold
those scallops for a little bit.

I'll put those
on at the last minute.

Okay.

Slide that to the side.

Oh.

The flavors, I'm telling you.

Now, I took that garlic,
roasted,

a little bit of salt and pepper.

And this, well, this
can get a little bit sticky.

Trust me,
I've done this enough times

from the days in the restaurant.

All right.

Awesome.
Roasted garlic's down.

Seafood's on the grill.

We are doing grilled cioppino.
People are flying in for it.

It's gonna be a blast!
See ya in a bit.

Welcome back. Man, it is hot
in here right now.

You wouldn't think,
in the holidays,

it's gonna be this warm.

But what we've got goin'
is grilled cioppino.

I'm keeping an eye
on my scallops right now.

So I'm just trying to finish up
this fantastic cioppino sauce.

Grilled tomatoes
and red bell pepper

and a little bit of fennel.
Some roasted garlic.

I'll get that later 'cause

I don't want
the scallops to overcook.

Add a little ouzo there because,
if you've got a good cioppino,

you know it's got some spice,
it's got some garlic,

and it's got a nice
little anise flavor,

and...Ah.

That is right on.
Okay.

We'll take this.

Gonna pour it right
onto my platter here.

And I've got some grilled
polenta sitting there.

Add a little roasted peppers
to it, add a little Pecorino

cheese to it, let it cool,

put it on a sheet tray, popped
it in the oven, put a little --

browned it a little bit,

then took it, cut it in some --

in some squares and grilled it.

Now some beautiful halibut

that's all marinated,
by the way.

leave that right there.

All marinated in some capers,
a little chili flake,

some garlic, some white white,

a bunch of lemon juice,
salt and pepper.

Take these beautiful scallops,
lay those around the side.

And I just want these super,
super tender

'cause they're gonna
sit inside that hot sauce.

I mean, look at that.

Tell me that is not gorgeous.

Right like that.
Oh, don't worry.

Nothing will happen to that
except for me eating it,

but, you know,
I don't tell anybody that.

Look at that.

Get a little bit of the sauce.

Just drop a little bit
on top of this.

I mean, it's gorgeous.

Little more of the basil,

some of the fennel fronds that
I had, lay that over on top.

So you grab a nice piece
of that grilled polenta.

It's a busy day
at the airport here.

Some fresh lemon juice
right over the top of that.

Huh?

Tell me that is not a platter
set for the holidays.

Is that beautiful or what?

I'm telling you,
that is just gorgeous,

especially
with that grilled polenta.

That's what makes it, that
and a nice little white wine.

Okay. First, I got to dig into
some polenta,

a little bit of this halibut.

Mm. And then,
when you wanna get your crab --

I'm a body meat guy.

So you dip it right in there,
this Dungeness crab.

Of all the crab that I have,

I mean, from --
from king crab, snow crab --

You can tell I don't like it.

This is the one to go to.

Now, listen, you might not
be able to find Dungeness.

Don't worry.
You find your favorite crab.

But here's the idea.

I don't care if it's snowing.

Get out on that porch,
fire up that barbecue,

grill off the seafood,

keep it in the shell,
put a nice char to it.

We all love that char flavor.

It takes us back to summer.

So have summer
during the holidays.

You wanna get this recipe?
You know what to do.

And then grilled cioppino recipe
is waiting for you.

Have a great holiday.
Take care, you guys.

See ya later.