Most cultures have some specific food you eat to welcome the new year and ensure luck/fortune/prosperity for the duration. Some people eat long noodles to symbolize a long life or food with names like what they want to bring about. In the southern US people eat a black-eyed pea dish called Hoppin' John. The black-eyed peas look kinda like coins, and it's often eaten with greens (the color of money) all adding up to a dish that should bring prosperity in the new year. Hoppin' John happens to be the tradition I've taken on; a little prosperity can't hurt, and the food really helps settle the morning after stomach. I have been trying to make a Hoppin' John that doesn't taste like dirt (black-eyed peas have a lovely if quite earthy flavor) for three years now, and have finally succeeded!
This serves 4-6 people as a meal
3 cups black-eyed peas
4 cups broth
3 strips bacon
one medium onion
healthy pinch red pepper flakes
a handful fresh spinach per person
put peas in a large bowl and just cover in water
using kitchen shears cut bacon into small pieces over a large heavy-bottomed pot
cook bacon in pot until crispy
dice onion
pour off excess bacon grease and add onion to pot
cook onion until translucent
add peas & pepper and stir thoroughly
add broth (I used chicken) and simmer gently until peas reach desired doneness (3-4 hours)
rinse and roughly chop spinach
fill each bowl 2/3 with the fresh spinach
top with hot Hoppin' John and a pat of butter
enjoy, make a resolution to be less hung-over next year
Lately I've been craving lamb. I've also been feeling pretty lazy kitchen-wise. My solution was marinaded roasted veggies and lamb. I only used a few dishes, and made enough food for four meals.
First off is the marinaded lamb.
So the picture looks kinda gross, but it tasted great.
For the lamb marinade I combined
one cup nonfat Greek-style yogurt (Fage Total is awesome)
one clove minced garlic
juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
a pinch kosher salt
I put about a pound of lamb stew meat in the marinade, cover it and got to work on the rest of the food. Next time I'd splurge for a better cut of meat, and have the butcher chunk it for me since the stew meat can be a bit dry if you don't actually cook in in a stew.
Next up were eggplant and onions.
sorry for the plastic glare
Roughly cut one medium eggplant and a large yellow onion into wedges and put in a large ziploc bag or a bowl you can toss the it all around in. I added the marinade straight into the bag one ingredient at a time, and just tossed it around a few times over the hour or so it marinaded.
I marinaded one lb green beans (blossom end snapped off) and 2 or 3 large red/yellow bell peppers cut into thick strips in:
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
fresh rosemary
a splash red wine vinegar
This marinade didn't overpower the natural sweetness of the peppers or the beans, and the splash of vinegar really livened the whole thing up.
I let the three parts of dinner marinade away while I ran around the house being distracted by random shiny objects. (About an hour)
The first thing I cooked was the lamb, partly because meat is better if you let it rest a while after cooking, and because I was only using one baking sheet to cook everything (not just laziness, we have a small oven with only one shelf) and decided that the lamb's juices would enhance the flavor of everything else. (Mmmmm lamb juices...)
I preheated the broiler and spread the lamb out on a foil-lined high-sided baking sheet. I put it 6 inches from the broiled flipping it over after 6 or seven minutes, and cooked for about 15 minutes total, although it probably was done after 10. I still have a proclivity to overcook meat on my first try with something new, still learning after 13 years not touching the stuff.
I switched the oven to bake at 350 and moved the cooked lamb to a bowl and covered it with foil.
Next I spread out the eggplant and onions of the same baking sheet and roasted them for 15 minutes, before stirring them around and roasting longer. I think they cooked for about 1/2 hour total, stirring more often over the last 15 minutes. I scraped them off the sheet into another bowl and covered.
Last to cook were the beans and peppers I roasted them for 10 minutes on one side, stirred up and roasted another few minutes.
As I cook I try to keep a pretty close eye on the roasting veggies, because in my experience thing can go from perfect to burnt or mushy with the slightest distraction (you don't want to know how many times "it need about 45 more seconds under the broiler" has turned into "oh shit where is all that smoke coming from!?")
I made a really quick tzatziki to serve the food with.
1/2 cup Greek-style yogurt
1/2 large cucumber (skin on) finely diced
2 cloves garlic minced
juice 1/4 meyer lemon
1 or 2 finely chopped mint leaves
tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp dried dill
The combo of herbs I used isn't totally traditional, but it's what I had on hand, and ended up tasting great.
To serve I put the lamb and veggies on some white rice, and topped with a scoop of the tzatziki.
