Lucky New Year's Stew

Tradition says New Year's Day you're supposed to eat greens and black-eyed peas to ensure good luck and prosperity in the coming year. Usually I make Hoppin' John (and yes, I do serve the leftovers on the second and call it Skippin' Jenny), but this year I wasn't that into it. Instead, I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen putting together something I decided to call Lucky New Year's Stew, and it was amazing! You don't have to trust me, either... even my mother said it was good, and she usually doesn't comment on anything I make.

I walked in with a plan to use bacon, cabbage, and black-eyed peas. Then I started looking around the kitchen to see what else I had that could work. Since I still had some spinach, celery, and fresh herbs left I decided those should be in there, and the rest of it just kind of fell into place.

I bought fresh black-eyed peas because it was an option, so I'm writing the recipe assuming you've already soaked dried ones overnight before you start. With the fresh, you just bring water to a boil, then add the peas, then return to a boil before lowering the heat and simmering for a while.

This was after simmering them for something like 45 minutes. Still some water left, but the peas have absorbed a great deal of it and gotten plumper while also adding their flavour to the water.

While those were simmering, I chopped and fried a pound of bacon. The grease was about a half-inch deep in the pan by the time it was mostly crisp, so after I removed the bacon to napkins to drain I poured most of it into my jar (please tell me you keep a jar for bacon grease!), using only a couple of tablespoons worth to saute the vegetables. It took about 20 minutes to crisp the entire pan (this picture was taken about halfway through).

First wave was to saute the onion, celery, and bell peppers in the reserved bacon grease. I stirred fairly frequently, cooking them until they were starting to soften but were still crisp. I think it was probably about 5 minutes.

After that, I stirred in the garlic and seasonings, then sauteed another couple of minutes.

Next I returned the bacon to the pan along with an undrained can of Ro-Tel. This I let simmer for something like 20 minutes, while I went and put my feet up. I did stir it a couple of times, but for the most part I just let it simmer over medium-low heat.

I didn't drain anything, just dumped what was in my skillet into my Dutch oven with the black-eyed peas and mixed it all together. I thought about simmering it more, but then looked at the clock and realized if we were going to eat at anything like dinnertime I'd best get a move on.

So I added the cabbage. I cut it into chunks, something like the size of a Post-It note (or about 3 inches square, whatever). It doesn't matter how you chop your cabbage, although its size will determine whether you'll be eating with a spoon or a fork. I wanted to eat this out of bowls with spoons, so I made sure the cabbage wasn't too big for that.

Anyway, then I covered it and continued simmering it for about a half hour, stirring a couple of times as the cabbage softened and cooked down.

The last thing I did was add the spinach. I tore it into pieces for the same reason I chopped the cabbage small, but feel free to do whatever you want. I ended up using about 2 cups of spinach, which added a nice dark green to the pot for contrast (and prosperity!).

After adding the spinach, I covered the pot again and let it simmer another 15 or so minutes, then removed the lid and continued to simmer another 15 minutes. I wanted liquid, but I didn't want soup. It was pretty much perfect when I served it.

Speaking of serving... You can add rice to it if you'd rather it be more Hoppin' John-esque, but I skipped it in favour of cornbread so I could keep the carbs at least a little under control.

You know what I did? I used a box mix for the cornbread. Yes, I make cornbread from scratch. More often than not, really. But I had this mix in the cupboard and I'd already spent a bunch of time on the stew, and I only had about 45 minutes before dinner was supposed to be on the table, so I used it.

Yup. Cornbread from a box. I think I felt my grandmother whack me on the back of the head with a wooden spoon as I slid it into the oven. But it was really good, especially spread with real butter!

Ow! I think she just whacked me again.

Anyway...

Lucky New Year's Stew

Serves 12

12 ounces black-eyed peas (fresh, soaked overnight and drained if dry)

5 cups water

1 pound bacon, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup green bell pepper, chopped

1 cup red bell pepper, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 (10 ounce) can Ro-Tel, undrained

1 head cabbage, chopped (about 8 cups)

2 cups fresh spinach, torn

Bring 5 cups of water to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add black-eyed peas, return to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry bacon in a large skillet until crisp (about 25 minutes). Remove to paper towels to drain, then pour all but about 2 tablespoons of grease out of pan (I save mine in a jar for later use, and I hope you do the same).

Return skillet to stove and add celery, onion, and bell peppers. Saute, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes, until they just start to soften. Then add garlic and herbs to skillet and saute another 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Return bacon to skillet along with can of undrained Ro-Tel. Mix well, and then let simmer over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.

Stir mixture from skillet into the Dutch oven with the black-eyed peas without draining either pan. Add chopped cabbage, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally as cabbage softens to mix.

Stir torn spinach into pan, cover and simmer another 15 minutes, then remove lid and simmer an additional 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Can be served over rice or as it is.

Serving Size: 288 g

Calories: 259

Calories from Fat: 146

Total Fat: 16.2 g

Saturated Fat: 5.2 g

Trans Fat: 0.0 g

Cholesterol: 42 mg

Sodium: 976 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 11.5 g

Dietary Fiber: 3.6 g

Sugars: 3.7 g

Protein: 16.9 g