Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Bouillabaisse...mmmm good!!!!!

During a quick trip back to Winter Park to pick up the Plater side (my mom and step-dad who have been featured in the pics from Taos) at the airport upon their arrival from Taos I spent two days lolly-gagging around O-town. Man it is so amazing how much your hometown can change. I moved away from Orlando in February of 2002 and what a difference the real estate boom and bust has made!!! No good pictures since I forgot my camera at the other folks, but house after house around the neighborhood has been erased and replaced with a huge McMansion. Pretty sad to say the least, but I guess it is good for my family's real estate values.
Anyway, on to the food!!!! So upon waking up the first morning - probably around 7:30, I discovered my step-dad pouring over 20 years of Bouillabaisse recipe stuff. I mean, 5 cookbooks, multiple note cards and personal pad paper, each with notes of this ingredient or that spice. A jumbled mess, is what I would call it. Now, you have get some of the back story here.
At our not-s0-great meal in Taos (earlier in the blog somehwere) he ordered boullabaisse and it was crap. really weird and seemingly of the same sauce that we got with the mussels and that was just alright in the first place. Well, my step-dad is well known for his amazing concoction of this French stew so I asked if we could rectify the situation by cooking up a big pot of it and having some friends over when they got back from Taos. There you go... now you are up to speed.
So, here is my dad, all entwined with ingredients - mind you over 20 years and many times and aging a bit - it is not always easy to get 'em all straight and correct. He has always complained that it takes so long and makes too much etc, well, now we know why... he has to reinvent the wheel every time he makes it!!! Now, luckily for us, it has always been AMAZING! On with the story.
Between my mother, my step-dad and myself we managed to find all the 400 ingredients, spices, secret spices, etc, chop up a storm, boil down, simmer and all in all prepare the base for the stew that then just cooks away for about 4-5 hours. Mind you, "finding" means running all over creation for fish, mussels, more fish, shellfish, onions, Pernod (pastis) and the list goes on. But we did it and were able to have a fairly relaxing afternoon before the guests arrived.
Promptly on time, Rich, Cathy and Lauren arrived packed full of vino, desert (an amazing light and fluffy key lime pie) and an amazing cheese along side a balsamic reduction combined with stuff I cannot remember right now. Helen - my other neighborhood "mom" soon after strolled in and the party got started. I won't bore you with the details, but we had a blast. The only real hit of the night worth bringing out is the story of our new neighbor who is from "whisper" "L.A." and a "wisper" lawyer. Apparently this gentleman who hails from parts west has two white, standard poodles that he walks in his white track suit with silver running shoes. I can only imagine the stir he causes in the republican bastions of conservative W.P. If I get a pic I will surely share.
Oh, of course the bouillabaisse went off like a smash and we could have fed the whole neighborhood. We had too much wine and everyone went home fat and happy! I was supposed to post the recipe because my mom has now meticulously taken the multitudes of notes, comments and recipes and combined them into one cohesive, documented tomb, but, well... she has neglected to get it to me. :( when I get it I will definitely post it!
Hope we get to make it over Christmas again!!!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Merci pour parteger votre notes de voyage avec nous!!! bonne continuation et bonne chance à toi et Cousteau: simplement deux grands voyageurs!
PS: By Christmas Im sure your mom will have shared with you the culinary secrets to the making of a magnificent Bouillabaisse! (Ill take the saffron, fennel seeds, and the orange zest! That leaves you with 397 more ingredients to go! =)