This tomato and broth-based seafood stew needs only one pot to simmer the vegetables, herbs, shrimp and cod! A couple of summers ago, my family and I met in Seattle with pretty much just enough workout clothes for the week and many Cliff bars. We rented fancy bikes and strapped everything to them, and set off for a week long journey throughout the San Juan islands. Every day we biked between 30-50 miles around the islands, taking ferries when we needed to cross water. It was the hardest thing I've ever done because there was not ONE flat road and we were either wheezing our way up a hill or sailing down one. My dad at one point was like "wow Dani you're really sweating back there all the way in the back" and I just go "no, Dad I'm actually crying". True story. Dinner at the end of each night felt so WORTH it and so NEEDED to refuel. I grew to look forward to one specific thing that is extremely common across the Pacific Northwest - cioppino (pronounched chip-peeno). It's the Italian version of the bouillabaise (another totally unpronounceable word - youtube helps). A tomato and broth based soup filled to the brim with different seafoods and fresh herbs. It's warming, flavorful, and keeps you interested with lots of different fishes, seafoods and vegetables in each bowl. I was also dairy and gluten free at the time, and it satisfied those requirements too. It seemed complicated - like only a restaurant could make it - but I stumbled across one of Giada's recipes and it looked relatively easy. So I modified it and came up with the BEST dish that was so EASY. Oh man. I can't wait to share this with you. Don't you love a good bundle of farmers market produce? Not all of this went into the cioppino, but it was pretty just the same. The great thing about this recipe is that it all takes place in one pot, and you don't need to simmer it for that long to develop delicious flavor. First, chop your onions, garlic, and slice your fennel. Sweat those out in your pot before adding the white wine and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Then you add your stock, tomatoes, fresh herbs (thyme and basil) and the seafood comes last. The variety of seafood I have found in cioppino is endless - salmon, cod, questionable white fish, scallops, prawns, calamari, etc. Today I kept it easy and used frozen shrimp and frozen cod. It dethawed in the soup itself and dinner was brought together in a matter of minutes. My photographer may have caught me sneaking a few samples of this as I served it up with some more fresh herbs on top. My taste testers proclaimed it one of my best dishes! I served it with a kale salad and crusty kalamata olive bread. Don't shy away from this recipe because "seafood stew" sounds complicated. It's really just like making any other soup - just tastes 10 million times better. This is also an awesome recipe for all of you gluten free pescetarians out there! (Just tried to autocorrect pescetarian to proletarian...nice try, wordpress).