Dad's Favorite Seafood Stew

Author Notes

Our family was in the retail fish and seafood business for almost 80 years, and during the course of that time, hundreds of seafood recipes were collected, tested, and developed. Dad came up with this one years ago, and it's been a family favorite for those of us who love the fruits of the sea. An impressive, but easy, company dish for four to six. Serve it up with crusty bread! —inpatskitchen

Test Kitchen Notes

The developer of this recipe, inpatskitchen, is an avid Food52er and food blogger—with fish and seafood retail in her blood. With over 400 (!) recipes on Food52, many of them contest winners, inpatskitchen is one of our go-to community members for reliably delicious, simple-to-follow recipes, like this one. This recipe is a bright, pure seafood stew that comes together in just 20 minutes. It's chock-full of scallops, shrimp, and any kind of saltwater fish fillets—mild-mannered snapper, halibut, cod, or sole, cut into 2-inch chunks.

Simply simmer some tomatoes, stock, and wine, add the seafood, simmer some more, and garnish. (That's it!) When you're cooking the stew, there are a few things to note: You can make the seafood stock yourself (try out this recipe), buy your favorite kind from the store, or hover somewhere in between with this Genius little trick for near-instant, super-flavorful broth that tastes like the sea. Second, you can make the stewing liquid together the day before—simmering together the stock, wine, and tomatoes—and refrigerating it overnight to let the flavors mingle beautifully. Third, when you're adding in the seafood, keep a close eye on it—shrimp; scallops; and fishes like halibut, cod, snapper, and sole all cook really quick. Shrimp and scallops will be tender to the touch and opaque in color; any of the saltwater fish you use should also be completely opaque in color and flake if prodded with a fork. Last, don't forget that crusty bread! It's essential here, to help sop up all of that extra-flavorful stock.

This stew tastes of the sea—if the sea was delicately perfumed with tomatoes, aromatics, and herbs. Plus, the broth was so good that we drank it on its own. It's equally good during the summer, when tomatoes are at their finest, as it is during the winter, when you're looking to round out your Feast of Seven Fishes with a hearty-but-light stew. —The Editors