Cajun Sole and Beans on the side Zola Gorgon The Hotel in New Orleans... Several years before the hurricane hit New Orleans I blew into town. It was my husband*s birthday. He was giving a speech in New Orleans and I decided that would be a perfect place to celebrate with him so I jumped a plane. These were the days of "olde" when you could get on a plane with a wrapped gift. He would soon be receiving a beautiful, new briefcase. I arranged for us to stay at the Windsor Court Hotel. It*s an amazing place, where the art hanging on the walls is original, and alarmed. The suite was beautiful. It had one of those four-poster beds that you have to take a running leap to get into. The bathroom was long, full of white marble and over-the-top gold fixtures. We had an amazing dinner at Arnaud*s in the Quarter. That*s another story. I must tell you about that dinner sometime. It*s a colorful story. I*ll get to it soon. I promise. After dinner we drank chicory coffee. This was before I found out I*m allergic to caffeine. Maybe my allergy started that night. Could be. That was one strong cup of coffee. I was making jokes about how it was so thick the spoon almost stood upright in it. Laying in the bed during the night, I could hear a constant dripping. My head was spinning from the coffee and I was so dizzy I could hardly open my eyes, so I just stayed in the bed, willing myself to sleep. Drip, drip, drip. I thought it must be raining outside and the dripping was hitting the iron balcony railing. I finally had to get out of bed to go potty. The coffee had run through me and I couldn*t stand it any more. My husband purred (that*s my mom*s definition for lightly snoring) and as I made my way across the room I stepped into a huge puddle in the middle of the room! The drip, drip, drip was not outside! It was coming from the ceiling! I woke my husband and he called the repair guy. This is the middle of the night, mind you, so when the guy came I scrambled back into bed and pulled up the covers. "Oh, my," he said. He then climbed a short step ladder and unlatched the screening at the ceiling. Wham! A huge torrent of water cascaded out of the ceiling, splashing one of those wired paintings on the wall, all down the dresser and now we had a lake instead of a puddle in the middle of this very expensive room. "You*ll have to excuse me", he said and he bolted from the room. I stayed in the bed. A few minutes later he*s back with a Shop Vac. He fires that thing up and it sounds like a train was running through our room. I can*t imagine how many people he assaulted with that noise. My head was pounding. This goes on for several minutes and he excuses himself again, saying he*d be back. He was gone so long my husband fell back asleep and it was time for me to hit the potty again. This time, when I am coming back out of the bathroom the door knob comes off in my hand. Yep, one of those fancy gold knobs. Rats! Now what! I begin gently knocking on the door to get my husband to let me out. No action, so my knocking gets louder and louder. Later, I come to find out that in his drowsiness my husband thought it was the repair guy and since he needed his sleep before his speech, he decided to just try to sleep through the pounding. Meanwhile I*m trapped in the bath. I think about sleeping in the tub. I*m steaming mad. Then I remember that over by the toilet there*s a phone! My salvation! I call and the same repair guy comes and lets me out of the bathroom like it*s a regular occurrence. No mention of my inconvenience. I*m hiding behind the door. No robe. And he goes back to work hammering, screwing and clanking on pipes in the ceiling. I bolt for the bed again to take cover. I don*t recall how many hours this all took. I do remember the sun was just starting to come up when I finally dozed off for a bit, but we had to leave early to get to my husband*s speech location. When we were checking out I asked for the manager. I wanted to let loose on someone; figuring there was no way I was going to be paying for that room that came with the extra experience(s). I was told it was so early that no manager was on duty, I was given the bill, I paid it, and I wrote a lengthy note on the back. I expected a call. No call ever came. No apology. No nothing. I*ve been telling this story for over a decade now. I wonder how the Windsor Court Hotel feels about word of mouth. Cajun Sole and Beans on the side I do love Cajun food, so every once in awhile I dream up something Cajun. My Cajun dishes usually have sausage or chicken in them so this time I went for fish. You can make this as spicy or mild as you want. Cajun folks do know how to cook. That*s for sure! Serves 4 4 sole fillets (or if you want to be more authentic you can use catfish or redfish) 4 tsp of Cajun blackening mix for fish 1/2 onion, chopped 1/2 bell (green) pepper chopped 3 Tbl of butter 8 oz tomato sauce 14.5 oz of diced tomatoes 1/2 cup of white wine or water 1 Tbl of olive oil 1/2 cup of chopped green onions Tabasco sauce to taste Beans on the side: 1 can of spicy red beans (chili hot beans) 1 can of black beans with spices added (or plain), drained and rinsed 1/2 cup of diced red bell peppers Sprinkle the fish with the Cajun spice mixture on one side. Let set 15 minutes. While this is going on, put your onions and green pepper in a medium sauce pan with the butter. Cook until wilted over medium heat. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and wine. Heat for 20 minutes on medium low. Stir often. Add the Tabasco sauce half way through and taste for your heat preference. Start with about 8 drops and add more if you like spicier food. Now start your beans. In a sauce pan pour in the can of red beans. Then add the drained black beans. If your beans came with no spices just add a bit of powdered garlic and some oregano. One tsp total will do it. Add the red peppers and heat on medium high while the sauce cooks in the other pan. Stir often. When the sauces are ready: Sauté the fish in olive oil in a sauté pan. Sole is very thin so this won*t take long. Be careful as you flip the fish over, so it doesn*t fall apart. It will only require about 2 minutes per side. You can tell the fish is done when it flakes easily and doesn*t have any rare parts in the middle. Thicker fish fillets will take longer to cook. To plate your dinner, place the fish fillet on one side of the plate. Put the red sauce over the fish. Sprinkle on the diced green onions. On the other side of the plate spoon out your beans. It*s two "puddles" of food, with great flavor and plenty of color. Cajun food doesn*t very often have great presentation, but it*s just plain good eatin*!
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