Happy New Year!

I'm not sure why exactly, it's not something my family ever did, but every New Year's Day I make sure black eyed peas are on the menu. It's considered good luck. Legend has it that Northern soldiers didn't consider black eyed peas worth eating and so left them behind when marching through the south. Lucky I suppose for the hungry Southerners who found them. The tradition of serving "lucky" black-eyed peas (really a bean) along with greens (color of money thought to guarantee wealth in the year to come) for New Year's dates back to the civil war. James' family never did it and neither did mine. But for as long as I can remember -- my entire adult life, I've made a pot of beans or Hoppin' John every New Year's Day.
Today's black-eyed peas were simple. I started a pot with chopped onions, carrots, red bell peppers, celery, and a little garlic. When the vegetables were getting soft I added a pound of black-eyed peas (soaked overnight in water and drained), a bay leaf, about 2 tsp of dried thyme, the same of oregano, a pork bone I had stashed in the freezer, S&P (length way not right away) and covered everything with chicken stock. I brought the pot up to a boil and then turn the heat down low and let the mixture simmer until the beans were tender.
Served over rice with sautéed kale and chard on the side we are starting 2017 off right.

New Year's Day Tradition

Black-eyed peas eaten New Year's Day are supposed to bring good luck for the coming year. Now I generally am not superstitious but every January 1st for as long as I can remember, certainly all of my adult life, I've made sure to have a bowl of "crowder peas" in some version, topped with greens.
For years I have been making cowpeas the same way -- long simmered with ham hocks or slab bacon and mixed with rice for "hoppin' john" a Southern staple since at least the mid- 1800s. The first published recipe surfaced in 1847.
I started out to make a healthy even vegetarian version of my old favorite based on a recipe I saw from Los Angeles' Cafe Gratitude. The vegan hearty food restaurant has become the recent darling of LA's health crazed beautiful people with dishes named not for the ingredients but for the results they hope to achieve like  "I Am Inspired" and "I Am Cleansed."
Gratitude's recipe started with sun dried tomatoes and capers to replace the meaty texture and saltiness of the ham usually found in these recipes. I rehydrated the tomatoes, rinsed the capers and stood staring at them in the colander. Going back and forth I couldn't quite imagine the capers and the beans, the molasses and the chills. I wanted to trust and yet the years of tradition (and my own prejudice seeing capers only as a mediterranean accent flavor) from my rarely more than once a year dish gave me doubt. I put the capers back in the jar and reached for the salt pork tucked away in the freezer.
The sun dried tomatoes were ready to use so I opted for a somewhat more healthy vegetable filled version of the old standard. First I rendered lardons of salt pork in olive oil and when they were crisp added in the chopped sun dried tomatoes and a couple chopped cloves of garlic. A couple minutes later chopped onions, carrots, celery, and a jalapeño pepper went into the pot. When the onions were translucent I added in my fresh black-eyed peas (though the method would work just as well with dried soaked beans -- just require a longer cooking time), the tomato soaking liquid and water to cover. The beans simmered until tender while the rice cooked nearby.
Another bowl of beans, another year of good luck. Welcome 2014.

Don't Eat Them For Looks

Delicious, whip up in a flash, but tacos don't rate many points for presentation. The day just seemed to tick away today and then suddenly I looked at the kitchen clock and it was nearly dinnertime and I had no idea what to make. I scoured the fridge. Shelled fresh black-eyed peas, ground beef (well that was in the freezer), cheese, lettuce . . . tacos in the making.

Not quite sure where I was headed I started as I nearly always so with a chopped onion sautéing in some oil. In this case it was bacon fat. Decadent I know but the olive oil bottle was empty (no time to refill) and I had a jar of reserved bacon fat right on the counter. I started the onions going with oregano, crushed red peppers, cumin and some chopped garlic and then added in the fresh beans. Once the meat was defrosted (or I would have added it before the beans I think) I put that into the pan and browned it through. I started to feel like my haphazard taco filling needed a bot more sauce so I poured in a good bit of hot sauce, some duck stock left over the from other day's risotto and the last of bottle of wine from the fridge. I cooked the mixture down until the liquid has just about evaporated and filled warm tortillas with my last minute filling. I topped the meat with chopped lettuce and some flavorful Cotija cheese we got as a gift from the family of a Mexican cheesemaker.

Last minute dinner wrapped in a tortilla -- not pretty but pretty delicious.

"Yummy!" James declared.

Happy New Year . . . A Little Late

Another year, another pot of black eyed peas to welcome the calendar change. For 2012 I went crock pot lazy and allowed a spicy black eyed bean and sausage stew to bubble along all day. Into the pot went a coarsely chopped onion, jalapenos, crushed red peppers, garlic, a smoked ham hock (left over from a whole Jamon Serrano), fresh black eyed peas, seared spicy Italian sausage, parsley, chicken broth and canned tomatoes. I left it on low all day and when dinner came around served James' spicy stew (no hot sauce needed) over rice. Happy New Year.

Black-Eyed Peas And More

I'm not sure why but we're still in a Southern state of mind, at least at dinnertime.

While pressing on with my never ending mission to keep clearing out the freezer I spied a well wrapped chunk of Easter baked ham. I love to re-work leftovers and it's just a short leap from ham to soup from soup to greens from greens to black-eyed peas. We had kale and I found fresh peas at the market so I was off and running. First I sauteed some onion, the whites of scallions and chopped garlic in vegetable oil. Then I added in the black -eyed peas, the chopped kale, a shot of tabasco, chicken broth, salt and water and brought the liquid up to a boil. I lowered the flame and let the pot simmer (along with some chunks of ham I added in) until the beans were tender. I fished out the ham, cut it into bite sized chunks and added it back to the stew with the greens of the scallions and a good shot of red wine vinegar.

I served James' Southern stew with biscuits I was storing in the freezer waiting to bake. Another good dinner, another shelf cleared.

A Summer Potato Harvest

Usually we plant our potatoes in the fall and harvest in the early spring, taking advantage of Southern California's mild winters. This year, because our home grown potatoes are rapidly becoming a favorite crop I'm trying for year round planting so we followed out early spring harvest with a second planting. We harvested some of those very successful summer potatoes today -- a hefty bowl of French fingerlings and big (bigger than we've ever grown before) Yukon Golds. I didn't want to do too much and cover up the taste of our day's harvest.

I baked the Yukon Golds and topped them with a savory black-eyed pea stew flavored with slab bacon and braised collard greens. Okay, I admit it this stew was tucked away in the freezer for just such an occasion. Dinner in a jiffy, salad (homegrown lettuce) on the side.

Back To Beans

Not just beans, but fresh, creamy delicious black-eyed peas. I love them.

Into the crock pot went 2 packages of fresh black-eyed peas, 5 peeled cloves of garlic, 5 dried chili peppers (I used a mix of hot and mild), 2 bay leaves, a couple sprigs of thyme, about 2 cups of chopped tomatoes (I used halved mini plum tomatoes from our front yard), about 2 cups of chicken broth, about 2 cups of water, and a large pinch of smoked salt. I left the beans to simmer on high for around five hours. About an hour before dinner I added a big handful of chopped mustard greens from our garden to the crock pot, gave everything a good stir , turned the heat to low and left the beans to bubble until dinnertime. Just before serving I took a couple ladles of beans and puréed them in the blender and then stirred them back into the beans to thicken the broth. I served James' beans over steamed quinoa with a sprinkle of chopped Jamon Serrano and peppered cheddar cheese. It's not quite the bean diet but he doesn't seem to mind.

New Year's Good Luck

Every year I make Hoppin' John for New Year's Day. By tradition the black-eyed peas and rice are supposed to bring good luck for the coming year -- for extra measure I usually cook up a pot of greens (also because James loves them). The beans are supposed to bring coins to mind (and to your pocket), the greens (this year it was kale) piles of "folding money."

To cook up our pot of luck I started with some slab bacon cut into chunks and rendered over a low flame. To the the pork fat I added chopped onions, carrots, celery, dried thyme, oregano, bay leaves, cayenne pepper, white pepper, black pepper, and chopped garlic. When the onions were soft but not yet colored I added in some fresh black-eyed peas, a couple of piquillo peppers I had left from James' steak sauce the other night and a good quantity of home made turkey stock (in the freezer since Thanksgiving). I brought the pot up to a boil and let it simmer until the beans were just about tender (about an hour). I added salt to taste and big mounds of shredded kale to the pot and let it cook down in the liquid until the greens were tender -- about another 20 minute or so. I finished the dish with a little swirl of cream to mellow the flavors. This year I served the rice on the side instead of cooking it in the "pot likker." Either way 2011 is looking good -- starting with this dinner.

Happy New Year!

One pot dinner?

I love Thomas Keller. He is probably my favorite chef and I aspire to his totally unachievable greatness.

But, one of his greatest talents is his uncanny ability to turn a one pot peasant dish into a kitchen full of dirty pans and trays and seemingly endless hands on work.

Admittedly I was particularly proud of the carrots in our yard and wanted to find a dish to highlight them. Pride, as they say, goes before a fall.

But, the asparagus in the fridge was calling my name. It was just so fresh and springy. This was no time to listen to reason or be seduced by haute French chef Daniel Boulud's one pot soup.

While mindlessly flipping through the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook, looking for what the super chef might do with asparagus, I had already spied a recipe for Spring Vegetable Garbure. The photograph showed spring produce at it's just harvested best, food porn for gardeners. Didn't the carrots, potatoes, fava beans and green beans I had labored over and raised from sprouts deserve this royal treatment? I was hooked.

I didn't know at the time but a Garbure is a thick vegetable stew from Southwest France often flavored with pork, and sausage or duck confit. Keller's recipe starts with cooking down carrots, leeks, and onions (2 cups each) under a cover of pork skin -- yes the skin off a slab of bacon -- for 35 minutes. Once the fat has rendered out and the vegetables are soft he instructs to remove the pork and add in 8 cups of chicken broth and simmer for 20 minutes more. That pot is drained (into a second pot) to leave the flavorful broth that is the soup's base.

Meanwhile a host of other vegetables: fava beans, English peas, green beans, cabbage wedges, and asparagus are individually blanched in boiling water (the fava beans are peeled), shocked in an ice bath and laid on paper towels to drain. Small creamer potatoes (both red and yellow) are peeled and cut into eighths and brought to a boil along with a sachet of bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, and garlic then cooked until tender. The carrots get a similar treatment with a teaspoon of honey and another sachet. Five pots, two trays, three colanders, a drawer full of utensils and counting.

"This looks healthy," James said as he pulled his spoon through the brightly colored bowl. He nodded as I, his dinner time tour guide, pointed out the ingredients that had come from our yard. "It's good," he said reaching for another slice of the cheese toast I offered on the side. "We can eat healthy," he declared.

Now I just have to worry about the dishes. Sigh.

Black Eyed Peas with Greens

Super quick dinner sauté. I had cooked black eyed peas in my freezer and leftover broccoli rabe from dinner a few nights ago. I toasted some garlic in a pan with olive oil -- then added the broccoli and thawed black-eyed peas and allowed them to warm through. I sprinkled on some crushed red pepper, S&P, stirred in about a tablespoon of butter, a little hot sauce, a dash of cream, and about a TB of tomato paste. I let it all cook over medium heat until the flavors were blended (and James came upstairs for dinner) and served it over steamed brown rice -- vegetarian comfort food.