A DCFüd Odessy

DCFüd writers ZAF, LAFB, RJ, SNH, MJF, and I gathered yesterday evening at ZAF (and AMG)’s place to cook and eat and be merry. LAFB and I began the evening by frightening ZAF and SNH with our nerdiness (a discussion of epidemiology, grad schools, and statistics), but quickly topics moved on to more appropriate things like music and transvestites and strippers. ZAF’s delicious guacamole kicked off the evening’s munchies, followed by MJF’s dumplings. I’m not sure what were in them exactly, but they were damn tasty…light and sweet and fresh tasting. ZAF roasted chickpeas into a bowl of dense, flavorful munchiness. SNH brought homemade bread (one of my favorite combination of words!). ZAF prepared a beautiful roast chicken, using compound butter and onions and things. Our penultimate course, it was really phenomenal.

Since my plan was to come directly from work, I was to create my dish from whatever ingredients happened to be available, plus sweet potatoes and carrots and radishes. So, it was going to be a procedural beef stew, the procedure being: add to pot; cook till done; spice till yummy. In went the beef (there wasn’t much, since it was scavenged from the freezer), more as a flavoring than main ingredient. First I cubed it, then browned it slightly in the pot with some sesame oil and kosher salt. Then I added water to the pot, plus some chicken bullion, and let that come to a boil. Once it had, I added two peeled and cubed sweet potatoes, about a half pound of baby carrots, about 10 radishes cut in two, and a bay leaf. Once it returned to a boil, I added ground allspice, ground ginger, and a bit of turmeric. I realized I’d probably added too much water, but hoped it would boil down. After a while, when the potatoes were nearly done (meaning: soft), there was still too much water, and the broth was not being very tasty. I added lots more allspice and ginger, a pinch or two rosemary, black pepper, and a few shakes paprika.

Tasty, but still too much liquid. LAFB searched the cupboards, and located a box of plain couscous, which I added to the boiling stew. I also threw in a small handful of chopped onion, left from ZAF’s chicken stuffing, mostly because it was there. The couscous cooked, absorbing almost all the liquid, making the stew more like a thick salad. I added more allspice and ginger, because couscous does dull flavor a bit. Then we ate it, and I think it turned out pretty well. It wanted hot peppers, or at least hot sauce, but there was none. That’s no-planning cuisine for you!

My second dish, which was planned (as in, I stopped at the store on the way and saw something I thought might be fun), was broiled sweet anise. I washed four anises, and cut them roughly into about three bits each. They were then drizzled with olive oil and kosher salt, and broiled for about 25 minutes. Yum!

Then was dessert: Berger cake, which involves chocolate frosting and therefore would be good regardless, but also had cakey goodness; and ZAF’s South-Beach cheesecake, which was, despite its lack of crust and Splenda-bite, quite nice.
Other people should share their recipes, because I don’t know them.