Eat This While You Read That: Joe Monson

Joe assigned me a delightful task, with this book and meal. He didn’t send me a recipe, he suggested that I create an Adventurer’s Stew. You couldn’t possibly make a recipe for that. When you are out on a quest with your dragon… 

I should explain. Joe’s book to read with this meal is the anthology A Dragon and Her Girl. You should definitely pick it up to read while you make this meal. Not only are there 20 stories to enjoy, but it benefits LTUE (Life, the Universe, and Everything) which is one of the best writing symposiums out there. Anthologies are like a smorgasbord of stories, not a multi-course meal, because there is something for everyone and you can pick and choose your favorites, and they come all together rather than strung out neatly like beads on a string. Stew – or at any rate, this stew! – is a bunch of things put in a pot all together and simmered on the fire while you are busy doing other things, then enjoyed in the evening along with good company. You wouldn’t want to eat it too soon – like a group on a quest, it takes time to mesh and meld into the greatness it will become with time, heat, and, ah, pressure. 

What I wanted to do with this stew was to be playful, and imaginative, and not stick too closely to a formula. Just like the stories in the anthology. 

Adventurer’s Stew

More like guidelines than a recipe

You’ll want some meat. Me, I wanted this to be where I was playful, so I acquired some alligator andouille sausage. Closest thing to dragon meat I could get in the store. Markets these days! 

That wasn’t enough, so I had some nice fat brisket with plenty of smoky goodness (note- meat really shouldn’t be on fire. But if it is, put it out and cut off the black bits)

So you have about a pound and a half of meat. You’ll want more if you have a large adventure party, but for 4 who hadn’t been sword-fighting all day, this is a good start. 

Now for the filler. I cubed up: 

2 medium turnips (what farmer will miss just a few turnips from the edge of his field?) 

2 medium golden beets (when they said dragons hoarded gold, I don’t know what I was expecting, but not that)

1 lb piece (give or take) of Daikon 

1 and a bit of a large onion. 

Some mushrooms (look, don’t pick the pretty ones. Trust me on this. The dull brown ones near the old horseapples are right)

Garlic. Plenty of it. Don’t bother to chop it too small, either. 

Some grease. Bacon grease is fine, and don’t skimp – fighters need the calories! 

Handful of herbs (mine were thyme, oregano, and garlic chives.)

Filé powder (what? your cook doesn’t collect sassafras leaves and hang odd bundles of green from their horse until they look like an ambulatory bush, then grind ’em when they are dry and you no longer know what that was, but it’s tasty?)

A pint of lager (if no one in the party will sacrifice their beer, water or beef broth will do)

In a pot – I happen to have the convenience of my kitchen, and an instantPot set on saute, then slow cooker – you’ll want to heat up the grease. 

Into the hot grease, put your onions and garlic. Stir over the high heat until they are translucent and soft, then add your chopped-up brisket to render out the fat. Finally add in your mushrooms, sliced, and the alligator sausage, sliced. Chop up your herb leaves (toss the stems) and put those in.

 

Related posts:

Eat This While You Read That – Sam Schall Eat This While You Read That: Jerry Boyd Eat This While You Read That: DJ Butler ETWYRT: Amie Gibbons