From the Commander's Palace

Jerry and I sat down yesterday morning and thumbed through our Commander's Palace cookbook. For those of you who don't know, the Commander's Palace is a New Orleans establishment and serves Creole/Cajun food. We haven't eaten at the one in New Orleans, but we had a fantastic meal at the one in Vegas.

Yesterday was enlightening. We went out to purchase ingredients. Jordan went with me. We had decided to do a whole fish dish and needed a pan (roaster with a lid) big enough to hold it. Of course, we wanted something of quality because we don't really like having to replace things after they go to heck. First, there are no roasters of any quality with lids. The roasters of quality were out of our price range so Jordan and I ended up with a really cool sauteure pan. Never heard of one before, but by gosh, it is large and has a lid.

Pan. Check. Fish. Whoa! Where did all the whole fish go? We couldn't find one and I started to freak out a bit around 2 when I still didn't have the ingredients for the meal. Jerry came to the rescue and started looking for the fish. He called and none of the fish markets had a whole fish. I (more than) half jokingly said to go to Whole Foods for a Whole Fish. He did. They had it and we were back in business. Next time, we will go there first to avoid all the anxiety.
Last night's menu was Oyster Chowder, Baked Fish with Oysters and Shrimp, Roasted Cauliflower, Commander's Palace Garlic Bread, and Chocolate Mousse.

Here's the break down:
Oyster Chowder - incredible, easy and one of my all time favorite recipes. I may have this recipe tattooed somewhere. Seriously, one bite and I couldn't believe that this was actually prepared in our kitchen and not dropped in by the culinary gods.
Baked Fish with Oysters and Shrimp - I think there is something wrong with this recipe. It was good and it was all gone at the end of the night. There was a point in the recipe where it said to bring to a boil, but there wasn't any liquid to boil. There also wasn't any fat (aside from 2 TBSP of olive oil) and so it was a little light and not enough flavor in my opinion.
Roasted Cauliflower - Robin said that it was her favorite dish and she doesn't like cauliflower. It was yummy and really easy!!!!
Commander's Palace Garlic Bread - The dill didn't do it for us. The garlic pieces were too large and so were spicy. Evidently, we are not picky as it was all gone, but I don't think we will make it again.
Chocolate Mousse - OMG!!!

Jerry said that he thought Julie was crazy to take on five hundred and something recipes in a year. After last night, he thinks it is doable. We made five recipes in one night. Two nights like that and you are on pace. I know mathematically he is correct, but we spent HOURS searching for that fish and the perfect pan. (Jerry and Jillian bought another pan - a roaster without a lid- while searching for the whole fish.) I need to plan the meals better so that I am not trying to equip the kitchen and buy groceries at the same time. Hopefully, what we cook tonight will require standard equipment and will not force a frantic trip to Whole Foods.