One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Today was a man day at the house.  Actually, almost everyday is a man-day:  Elizabeth and I are outnumbered 2 to 1.  And no, I don't count the dogs, they can't talk and don't have opposable thumbs. 

Hopson has taken the children fishing in Louisiana every year for the last 6 years or so.  They catch speckled trout and red fish.  (and a lot of it)  The funny thing is...my kids really only like their fish fried, and I don't like to fry things...it smells up my house and takes a long time to cook.

Hopson called one of the Louisiana guys, Mr. Greg, to get his Redfish Stew recipe they had while they were fishing last year.  I kinda turned my nose up at it....  I knew it was going to smell up my kitchen, I mean, my goodness, it has fish in it, and fish is smelly.

I'm glad my words tasted yummy in my bowl, because I ate them.  The stew was surprisingly delicious and not fishy at all.  The fish tasted more like chunks of meat in the stew, and not flaky pieces that fell apart in your mouth.  It was good, but getting to the finished product was a little more difficult than it should have been.  

While I helped chop up everything for the stew, Hopson was supposed to be making a dark brown roux.  I told him to stir it continually so the flour doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.  He 'didn't notice' the part of the recipe that said it needed to be dark brown, so he added all the veggies before the roux was ready & ended up with a huge sticky mess.  Have you ever tasted a dark brown roux vs. a light roux?  The light roux tastes like flour.  It's pretty nasty.  I tried to fix it, but we had to start over. 

The next go 'round I made the roux & he chopped all the veggies.  It was much better, and I happy to say successful.

I left all the men to do their guy bonding thing & I went to see the movie The Help with some friends.  Thanks Martha, Ginger & Mary Beth for a great outing.  Thank you ladies for letting me escape my house full of men it was very relaxing, and something I needed to do.

Enjoy the Redfish Stew!

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley