Black-eyed Peas, Collards, & Cornbread

Collards, cornbread, and peas with black eyes will make your New Year healthy, wealthy, and wise.  Or at least that's how the saying goes in the south this time of year.  I love celebrating food traditions and that was the traditional meal at my house growing up in Alabama.  Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s has been considered good luck for at least 1,500 years, beginning as a Jewish custom first appearing in written history around 500 AD where black-eyed peas were consumed in celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Sephardic Jews, who migrated to Georgia in the 1730's, brought the tradition to the south and the tradition spread after the Civil War. The Northern Army destroyed or stole many of the crops of the south land, but considered the black-eyed peas to be suitable only for animal feed and left it alone.  This made the black-eyed pea a humble, but incredibly important source of nourishment for the surviving Confederates.  These days, the dish is consumed to bring luck and prosperity to the New Year with the collards symbolic of money, the peas as coins, and the cornbread said to represent gold.  I mostly just like to eat it because it wouldn't feel like New Year's day without it.

I let the dried black-eyed peas soak all day while I took down the Christmas decorations, reflected on this past year, and thought about my hopes for the new year ahead.  Once all the peas had plumped and I picked out the occasional bad ones that floated to the top, I gave them a final rinse and gathered the rest of my ingredients.  Here is what I will need to make this southern New Year's specialty:

Black-Eyed Peas:


3 cups black-eyed peas, soaked and rinsed
1 lg onion, chopped
2 small shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 smoked ham bone
6-8 cups water
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt & pepper
2 cups cooked brown or white rice
2 cups cooked ham, chopped (optional)

Heat the oil in a dutch oven or stock pot.  Add the onion, shallots, and garlic and cook over medium heat until the onions turn translucent.  Then add the black-eyed peas, bay leaf, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, water, and the ham bone to the pot.  I used the leftover ham bone from our Christmas ham.  I chopped the remaining ham off the bone and set it aside to add later, once the peas are cooked.    Let the peas simmer, uncovered, for about an hour or until the peas are soft.  Add the two cups of cooked rice and the chopped ham.  Simmer another minute or so then serve with the cornbread and the collards.



Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread:

1 1/4 cups coarsely ground cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1/8 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup milk
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Heat the oven to 425 F and place a 12 inch cast iron skillet in the oven to get it hot.  Meanwhile, mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Next, whisk in the milk, buttermilk, eggs, and all but two tablespoons of the melted butter.  Once the oven is preheated, remove the skillet and reduce the oven temperature to 350 F.  Coat the skillet with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, then pour in the cornmeal batter.  Cook at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.  The edges should be golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center should come out clean.  Let the cornbread sit for 10 minutes or so before serving.

Collard Greens

10-12 collard greens
3 strips bacon
6-8 cups water
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes

Cook the three strips of bacon in the dutch oven or stock pot.  Remove the bacon and set aside for later.  Allow the bacon grease to cool a bit.  Add the water,pepper, red pepper flakes, and a generous portion of salt and bring to a rolling boil.  Cut the stems out of each of the greens and then cut each leaf into two or three pieces.  Add them to the boiling water and boil for 15-20 minutes or until the greens soften.  Ladle out the greens and a good portion of the stock into bowls, then crumble the bacon on top of each portion.  Be sure to have enough of the stock to crumble your cornbread into after you have eaten the greens.  This is called the pot liquor and is the best  part of the whole dish, if you ask me.

This meal is traditionally served just after midnight New Year's Eve or as the main meal on New Year's Day, but we went ahead and had ours for dinner on the Eve and will have the leftovers tomorrow.  This is one of those meals where the leftovers are even better than the original.  I wish everyone a very happy New Year filled with peace, love, joy, and plenty of good food!

Pasta Sauce and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

In August and September, when I am canning tomatoes with all the windows open and the fan on, struggling to keep cool in a cabin without air conditioning, I daydream about the winter days when I will pull a jar of tomatoes out of the pantry to make a warm winter dish.  Now those winter days are here and I'm using my jar of tomatoes to make a simple pasta sauce.  I don't always make the sauce the exact same way.  It depends on what ingredients I have on hand and whether or not I want to add meat.  Today I'm keeping it meatless so that I can make one of Brad's favorite meals:  ricotta stuffed shells.  Brad is a dedicated carnivore and rarely loves a meal that doesn't have meat, so I think the fact that he considers this one of his favorites speaks volumes about how delicious this dish is.  I was a vegetarian for several years when Brad and I first met and now I try to only eat meat sparingly, so I jump at the chance to make a meatless meal that both of us will like.  I begin by assembling my ingredients and turning on some music.  Here is what I will need:

Basic Pasta Sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 medium onion, chopped
2 small shallots, chopped
2 small carrots, chopped
4 or 5 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups of chopped Crimini mushrooms
1 jar tomatoes (or 1 16 oz. can)
8 oz tomato paste
1 Parmesan or Romano rind (optional)
salt & pepper to taste

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, shallots, carrots, mushrooms, salt, pepper, and spices.  If I had fresh spices, I would most certainly use them, but this time of year I settle for dried.  Also, if you can't find crimini mushrooms, white button mushrooms will work fine.  I just like the slightly stronger flavor of the criminis, which are actually baby portabellas.  Cook for 7 or 8 minutes, stirring, until the onions begin to turn translucent.  Add the garlic and cook an additional minute, then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and the Parmesan or Romano rind.  I happen to have a rind of Peccorino Romano, which is an Italian sheep's milk cheese that has a great salty, nutty flavor.  The rind is completely edible, but not exactly palatable on its own, so a good way to use it is to drop it into a soup or sauce such as this one.  It helps to thicken it and imparts a delicious flavor.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer 20- 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  If I were pouring the sauce over pasta, I would leave it chunky, but since I am using it in my stuffed shells dish, I use an emulsion blender to puree it until it is smooth.

Next I will assemble the ingredients for the ricotta stuffed shells.  Here is what I will need:

Ricotta Stuffed Shells

24 jumbo pasta shells
16 oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz. fresh mozzarella
2-3 cups spinach
4-6 cups pasta sauce
1 egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp parsley
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Begin by boiling your pasta according to the package directions.  While pasta is boiling, set a steamer basket or strainer over the pot of boiling water and place the spinach in the basket.  Allow the spinach to steam until it wilts.  Remove from the basket, press into the strainer to squeeze out most of the excess water and chop the steamed spinach. When the pasta is done, drain and rinse it in cold water.  Set aside.
Pour your ricotta cheese in a medium bowl.  I love to use Maplebrook Ricotta from Bennington, VT.  It won  3rd place in the ricotta category from the American Cheese Society in 2012 and I can certainly see why.  It's delicious!  Add the chopped spinach, beaten egg, spices, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan or Romano cheese to the ricotta.  Next, spread a thin layer of your sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish.  Stuff each jumbo shell with a big spoonful of the ricotta mixture and place in rows in your dish.  Once all shells are stuffed and the dish is full, pour the remaining sauce over the top of the shells.  Then, take your fresh mozzarella and slice it into thin slices.  If you are using aged mozzarella, grate it instead.  I find that the fresh mozzarella turns a bit mushy when grated and is better when sliced.  The final step is to grate a little more of the Parmesan or Romano cheese over the top.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly. 

Aromatherapy Ornaments and Jambalaya

I love the way a certain scent can bring back a memory or take you back to a time long since past.  Cinnamon, cloves, citrus, balsam fir:  these are the scents that make me think of the holiday season.  They bring back memories of making Christmas cookies with my family, memories of decorating the tree together, and of meals together on Christmas Eve.  Our tree brings a great balsam fir smell to the house, and these aromatherapy ornaments I am making today will hopefully bring the other scents together.
Aside from the great smell, I also like the idea of making these ornaments because it reminds me of making Christmas ornaments with my mom.  I remember making lace snowflakes and bright red felt cardinals.  These homemade ornaments are always so much more meaningful than the store bought ones when you pull them out of the box each year to hang them.  The ornament recipe comes from Aura Cacia, a company that makes aromatherapy products.  I work  in the health & wellness department of a natural foods co-op and we sell Aura Cacia products, so they sent us these recipes to hand out during the holidays.  The recipes included some for holiday home fragrances and this recipe for aromatherapy ornaments.  With my Blue Yule album on, I gathered my supplies and got to work. 

Spicy Aromatherapy Tree Ornaments

1 cup ground cloves
1 cup cinnamon powder
2 cups applesauce
2 tsp craft glue (I used Elmers)
toothpick
ribbon
10 drops of clove bud essential oil
10 drops of cinnamon essential oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
cookie cutters

Combine clove and cinnamon powder.  Add the essential oils and the vanilla.  Mix well, then add applesauce and glue to form a dough.  If the dough is too wet, add more spices.  If too dry, add more applesauce.  Roll out the dough on a dry counter top until about 1/2 inch thick and use cookie cutters to cut out the desired shapes.  Use the toothpick to make a hole for the ribbon.  The recipe then says to bake in the oven at 125 F until dry, but the lowest my oven will go is 170 F.  It took them about 2 hours at 170 to get completely dry.  I think it took them an especially long time because I made them a bit too thick.  I was afraid if they were too thin they would be fragile, but in hind sight, I should have made them slightly thinner than these you see in the photo.  Once they are dry, take them out of the oven, cool them, and then attach the ribbons.  Hang them from the tree and let the comfort and joy of the season appeal to all of your senses!  Don't let the scent fool you, though.  These are absolutely not edible.  The recipe points out that the ornaments can be freshened up with a few drops of essential oil in a few weeks if needed. 
  

Now that the ornaments are done, I will move on to making one of my favorite meals for dinner.  Even though I didn't grow up in Louisiana, my dad loved cooking Cajun cuisine, so we ate lots of gumbo, low country boil, etouffee, grillades & grits, and jambalaya.  I didn't always love these meals as much as I do now, which I attribute to my wimpy palate for spicy foods as a kid.  I laugh as I picture my dad saying "I promise I didn't make it too spicy" as the sweat dripped down his face from the bite he just sampled.  The point was that it was supposed to be spicy.  Now I can't get enough of it!  I'm fascinated with Louisiana music, food, and culture and like to think that somewhere deep down, I have a little ragin' cajun in me.  Zydeco music was often playing as dad cooked his Cajun cuisine, so I'm switching my Blue Yule album for one called New Orleans Christmas, and assembling the ingredients for dad's Jambalaya (or at least the way I remember it, since he never writes his recipes down).   

 Jambalaya                                           

1 lb Andouille Sausage
1 16 oz. jar of tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lg onion, chopped
2 small shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapenos, diced
1 small bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
3 cups chicken broth
1 smoked ham hock (optional)
1 cup shrimp, peeled
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp Tabasco pepper sauce
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp ground allspice
salt & pepper
2 cups white rice

Andouille sausage used to be tough to find in VT, but I was thrilled to recently find some from Vermont Heritage Grazers.  If you absolutely can't find it in your area, you can use Kielbasa, but it won't be quite the same.  I was also able to find some local onions and shallots and it's nice to be able to use our home-canned tomatoes and home-grown garlic.  In a large stockpot or dutch oven, heat the oil.  Slice your sausage on a bias into 1/2 inch pieces.  Add the sausage, onions, shallots, bell pepper, jalapeno and celery.  Cook 8 minutes over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Now the veggies should all be tender and the onions translucent.  Remove the sausage from the pan, cover it, and set it aside.
Add the chicken broth, smoked ham bone (if using), tomatoes, bay leaf, Tabasco, salt, pepper, thyme, and allspice to the pot.  Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.  You can either add the rice now to the pot, or you can cook the rice on the side in your rice cooker.  We always cooked the rice on the side and then spooned the finished Jambalaya over the steaming rice in bowls.  If you add the rice directly to the pot, cover it, and cook an additional 15 minutes.  Finally, add your sausage back to the pot, along with the raw shrimp.  It should only take a minute for the shrimp to cook.  If you cooked your rice separately, spoon it into each of your bowls.  Then spoon the Jambalaya over the rice.  Serve with crusty french bread and with additional Tabasco for those who like it extra spicy.  Enjoy!