New Year's Food

The best thing about New Year's day to me is eating. As soon as I get up I get the food going. This is southern food at its best!

This year instead of ham (since we just had that at Christmas) I'm going to have a corned beef brisket. I decided against having greens and opted for cabbage (at Steve's request). And of course, black eyed peas and cornbread. I typically reject dried peas; they never taste right to me, and NEVER canned ones. Frozen are okay but fresh are best. In my case, fresh/frozen.

I'll cook both my peas and my cabbage with a big ole' ham hock in each. I'll also break out the chow chow Steve and I bought in Jefferson, which is a sweet/spicy/hot cabbage based relish. Sounds bizarre, but it's wonderful! And in the south when you serve black eyed peas, you usually have a side relish of diced tomatoes and sweet onion marinated in vinegar. Lots of hot, sweet, buttery cornbread on the side!

How I cook black eyed peas:

2 c. fresh black eyed peas
2 lbs. smoked ham hocks
onion, sliced in half
1 fresh jalapeno or cayenne pepper

Place the ham hocks in a heavy 4 to 6 quart pot and add enough water to cover the meat by at least 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered for 2 hours, or until the ham hocks are tender and show no resistance when pierced deeply with the point of a small skewer or sharp knife.

In a sieve or colander, wash the black-eyed peas under cold running water until the draining water is clear. Add the peas, onion, pepper and a few grindings of black pepper to the pot, mix well, and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered until the peas are tender.

And then turn on the football game!