Had a lovely experience last week that began when a friend called to say that they'd just recieved a large shipment of fresh seafood from Florida.  They had more grouper and jumbo shrimp than they could eat.  So I fed the kids whatever crap I had laying around the kitchen, called Jay and told him to meet me there and headed over to the House O' Fish.

I stopped at the liqour store on my way, having recieved an urgent message saying "Need Bourbon, please hurry!"

What kind of a friend would ignore such a plea?  I had no idea what the bourbon was for or what constitutes "good" bourbon, so I just bought a bottle that corresponded with the amount of money in my wallet at the moment.  Turns out it hardly mattered as the bourbon wasn't for drinking but cooking.

When I arrived at the home of the lovely and gracious Curry's (Stay outta Jay's F****** huddle, E!) I discovered what appeared to be chaos but was actually a spectacular dinner being prepared in a ridiculous kitchen.  The house is a beautiful old victorian and the kitchen was last updated around 1926.  Or 1974, considering that it has a working refrigerator.

In a space in which I would hesitate to warm up soup, Andrea was whipping up Shrimp etouffe, blackened grouper and a surprise dessert!

The surprise was that I got to make it!  Okay, in all honesty I did ask what I could do to help and in even more honesty if I hadn't pitched in we'd still be waiting for dinner.  One look at the cookbook and I realized we were following Emeril's lead and although the dishes would require lots of chopping, stirring and timing, it would all be worth the effort.  Andrea showed me where the ingredients and the recipe were and we set to work on our respective tasks.

I've never had bread pudding before, mush less made it.  I followed the directions exactly for fear of what might happen if I strayed from the path.  I did make one mistake early on; I didn't read the recipe through at the beginning so when I separated six eggs for their yolks, I dumped the whites.  This would've been a problem later when it turns out I needed six egg whites for the meringue, but as luck would have it, I needed four more yolks for the bourbon sauce which we poured hot over the finished meringue, so I neede to break lots more eggs anyway.

I can't remember the last time I separated an egg.  Usually if my recipe calls for "egg whites" or "egg yolks", I just say "screw it" and pull out a brownie mix.  So I was very careful.  The bread was cubed, the pudding mixed and poured and the whole mess was in the oven, baking and smelling heavenly when I turned to help with the shrimp.  Andrea had alread chopped about 15lbs of veggies and was sauting them on the stove.  We pealed and viened 1700 jumbo shrimp.

At this point, one of the men, who were out in the hot tub with cocktails and cigars, made the mistake of sticking his head in the kitchen and yelling for more drinks.

He didn't realize we were up to our elbows in raw shrimp and both in the possession of very sharp knives.

If he hadn't hightailed it, we would've peeled his shrimp.

We didn't really mind.  The cigar smokers have cooked their share of dinners and besides there wasn't room for any more cooks in the kitchen.  Also, we were drinking gin and tonics.  Turns out after two g&t's, I can juggle sharp knives.  Who'da thunk?

Dinner was finally served and as I suspected, it was all wonderful.  The shrimp etouffe was so delicious it was worth every poo-vien we yanked out. The grouper was a thing of beauty and a joy forever.  The bread pudding was a work of art.  My very first attempt at meringue was so beautiful, Andrea took a picture of it for me.  The bourbon sauce was the crowning touch.  I was so full I didn't think I'd be able to eat for a week.  I was seriously worried about springing a leak right there in the dining room. 

We did bring home a large hunk of bread pudding.  Zack ate it for breakfast the next morning.

Not only did I get to share in a wonderful, delicous dinner, I learned how to make meringue.

It's a good thing.

 

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