While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

Mon Dieu! December 14 is National Bouillabaisse Day.

One bite of this soothing one-pot meal will transport you to the Mediterranean coast of France, where the dish originated. Who couldn't use a nice holiday in the sun in December?

While bouillabaisse is one of the cornerstones of Provençal cuisine, there are plenty of recipe variations in the sea.

The traditional version of the fisherman's stew from Marseille contains fish and shellfish, along with olive oil, onions, tomatoes, garlic, saffron, fennel and potatoes. Purists will argue true bouillabaisse must include rascasse, a bony scorpion fish found in the dish's native Mediterranean region.

Whether you stew up one fish, two fish, red fish or blue fish, just don't forget to serve bouillabaisse with rouille (a peppery saffron mayonnaise) and a crusty baguette to sop up every last inch of the broth.