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!