How To make Mama Chio's Shellfish Cioppino

Sauce 1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup butter
1 large onion

chopped
3 tablespoons parsley :

chopped
4 cloves garlic

chopped
3/4 cup sherry :

dry
2 cups plum tomatoes

chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
2 whole bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper :

freshly ground
dash Tabasco sauce 1/2 teaspoon thyme

dried
2 cups water
Seafood 1 Dungeness crab :

fresh
2 lobster tails
8 large shrimp

unshelled
12 whole clams :

in the shell
1/2 pound scallops -- fresh
1/2 pound halibut fillets
Heat oil and butter in a large pot. Add onion, parsley, and garlic and cook unt il onion is transparent. Add sherry and cook an additional five minutes. Add to matoes and tomato sauce, bay leaves and seasonings. Stir frequently while cooki ng 15 to 20 minutes. Add water, cover, and simmer for a half hour.
Add all seafood except halibut to the sauce. Add more water if necessary. Cook for five minutes, add halibut, and cook an additional ten minutes. When clams h ave opened, cioppino is ready to serve.