Black Eyed Peas - A New Year's Eve Dinner Tradition

My grandfather, who had his roots firmly planted in the tobacco fields of Kentucky always cooked New Year's dinner for the family. The meal was served at midnight and no matter where you were in town, you dropped in at granddad's to eat and spend some time with the family before resuming the holiday festivity of your choosing.

Now, it wasn't just any dinner menu. The food on the table was specifically chosen for a reason. Black eyed peas traditionally signify luck in the new year as well as humility. Back in my patriarch's time, beans were a staple, something that was always on the table because it was affordable. Make up a big pot of beans and bake some cornbread and you had meals for days. This meal was my grandfather's way of blessing his family with luck, prosperity and happiness in the coming year.

As my grandfather prospered in life, the meal became more elaborate. He told us he always served at midnight because that was the only way to insure luck throughout the coming year.

He always put the same thing on the table when I was growing up;

Black eyed peas

A full roasted pig-the whole pig

A roasted turkey-good hunting

Greens-available

Macaroni and Cheese

Yeast dinner rolls made from scratch

yellow cornmeal cornbread

Homemade egg nog

tapioca pudding

Every food on the table harkened back to his days on the farm in Kentucky. As he got older, granddad replaced the whole pig with a ham that he cured and then baked with pineapple rings, maraschino cherries, cloves and brown sugar.

The egg nog was spiked with bourbon if you were an adult. It was served virgin if you couldn't score the real stuff while mom wasn't looking. He always made it from scratch too. But I didn't get that recipe, sorry. In my neck of the woods, United Dairy Farmers makes a good egg nog and you can still spike it. Bourbon is bourbon.

If I were serving this meal today I would add a good Cabernet Sauvignon. Kendall Jackson makes a good and reasonably priced wine. My white wine of choice on holidays is a burgundy usually from the mersault region of France. It's pricey, but I don't budget when ringing in the new year. Any hearty red and white will do. Your choice. You should always drink what you like.

RECIPES:

Black Eyed Peas

need to be prepared the day before on stove top

take a big deep pan, half fill it with water,

add spices, salt, pepper, garlic cloves, smoked turkey parts (legs, wings or butts)

cook medium high, until it boils, then reduce heat to medium low

let simmer for about two-three hours, covered

water will reduce down, turn brown and kind of look like a soup

rinse beans in cold water

add them to the big pot, reduce heat to low, let cook, covered, until beans have plumped and softened about five or six hours.

adjust spices to your taste.

Cover and refrigerate until an hour before dinner time.

Reheat and serve.

Whole pig

was cooked in a pit in the back yard. It was slowly roasted and took a day by itself. Unless you have a pit and a lot of time. I would recommend going with the ham. You can buy them already cooked from the Honey Baked Ham Company or various grocery stores

Roast Turkey

use your favorite recipe or try mine from my website: http://wonderfullywino.blogspot.com. There, I serve up a recipe of grilled turkey and wine. Try it

Greens

Collard, Kale and Mustard mix

Wash, and de stem the greens. Place them in a big deep pot, preferably the day or even a few days before the dinner. They can be frozen once cooked and simply reheated the day of the dinner.

I season my greens with smoked turkey parts, garlic, salt and pepper and a jalapeno pepper or two. The pepper adds a little kick but won't make the greens hot.

As always season to your own taste.

Slow cook for about four five hours

Three cheese Mac and Cheese

Cook your pasta first. While it is cooking cut up cheese in small chunks or buy it cubed to save yourself some time. I personally use, sharp cheddar, Monterey jack and some other mild cheese like Colby.

Take an oven dish-usually Pyrex pour a layer of macaroni, add some cheese, put a couple of pats of butter, season with salt and pepper

repeat the layer to the top of the dish, finishing off with the cheese on top

add milk til it just reaches the top of the dish

bake at 350-degrees for about an hour or until the cheese on top begins to brown

I always put a pan underneath my dish because I always, always put in too much milk and sometimes it bubbles up and out. So put the pan in to save some clean up

Cornbread

is personal, use your own recipe, even if it's only jiffy mix...it's all good

After all that cooking all you really want to do is to sit down and drink. My granddad never sat down and ate with us. He sat down, blessed the table, joined in the conversation, carved the turkey, or served the food, but he didn't eat. And I never understood that until I started cooking. Then I found out that cooks usually taste as they work, so when dinner time rolls around, they are not hungry. That is especially true if the recipes are not precise as I have presented here. My granddad always taught us to cook by taste.

And that's what you should do...season and cook by taste...

Enjoy!