If you read my earlier post about shopping for the fishing trip, you know that preparation is part of the adventure Last week we held a strategy session at the blue hole, where we (sort of) planned the menu for out trip. This year the crew for the November trip is #OldAg – Captain, #TSip – First Mate, a friend from Dallas, and #TheOldManInTheWoods. We’ll be joined occasionally by two men in another boat, #RawButter and his brother.
When I was getting ready for the elk hunt, #ShoppingBeauty suggested I make a big batch of chili and freeze some for the fishing trip. As a result, our Sunday night meal was taken care of. One night is dedicated to cooking some of our catch, and the rest of the time we take turns.
So the schedule is:
- Sunday – Chili and Crawfish Cornbread
- Monday – King Ranch Chicken
- Tuesday – Steak & Baked potatoes
- Wednesday – Redfish Courtbouillon
- Thursday – Clean the fridge or hamburgers at the marina
Since the weather-guesser predicted a rainy, dreary day in East Texas, I decided to work on the sauce for the the Redfish Courtbouillon. The proper Cajun pronunciation of this dish is “coo-bee-yon”. It reminds me a lot of a the Shrimp Creole that I ate as a kid at Johnny Cace’s. I have fond memories of eating at Cace’s with my parents. We always asked for Ruby’s table because she knew exactly how both my mom and dad liked their baked potatoes and would fix them at the table with just to right touch. I think about her whenever I slice into a baked potato and then push the ends together to get that “fluff”.
I usually got the spaghetti, until I learned to slurp it. I don’t remember how old I was when I learned this skill, but I know mom was appalled. She was always an Emily Post fan and, needless to say, the #OldManInTheWoods was not. I would usually come home from Cace’s with spots on my shirt where I got carried away with the slurping spaghetti sauce. All of that came to a crashing halt one night when the slurp and the hot spaghetti sauce hit me square in the eye. OK mom, you were right – AGAIN!
But, back to the cooking. #ShoppingBeauty’s parents both hail from New Orleans, so Cajun cooking is a standard part of the Thomas repertoire. “Yes dear, I can make a roux.” But I had never made Redfish Courtbouillon before, so #ShoppingBeauty helped me find her favorite recipe.
The recipe is fairly simple, and the sauce can be made ahead and frozen – perfect for the fishing trip! I started by chopping onion, bell pepper and celery, aka the holy trinity. For Courtbouillon, I decided to chop the vegetables a little larger – maybe half-inch cubes. Melt butter, add chopped vegetables and some thyme and bay leaf and cook for about an hour with canned tomatoes and tomato sauce to soften the vegetables. After you get this started you add salt & pepper to taste. Around our house we don’t add salt but we did add a little bit of Worstershear…Woostersheer…Worchestersh…Lea & Perrin’s to get the taste we liked.
Of course we doubled the recipe so we could have some in our freezer too.
Now if we can only catch some fish….