Thursday, January 3, 2013

Happy New Year!



Happy New Year! 

Our New Year's Day tradition is to eat black-eyed peas to bring good tidings for the coming year. It's a tradition that we've adopted from the South as it just seems like a wholesome and nutritious way to begin a bright new year. 

We've used a different recipe every year but I think this time, we've found a keeper. It's a simple herb-based recipe with a decadent walnut sauce - it is so good! 

As per the recipe, Mike soaked and cooked the beans - and then I took over from there. This made him very nervous as he knows how hard it is for me to stick to a recipe. 

This is what sets Mike and I apart in the kitchen. He sees recipes as road maps to a wonderful destination. I do as well but I seem to take a few detours along the way. I'm not proud of it, especially when things don't turn out. Baked goods are most vulnerable. But I managed to follow the recipe this time, and the dish was delicious! 

The black-eyed peas and walnut sauce recipes come from Madhur Jeffrey's World Vegetarian, a book we've enjoyed for years. The black-eyed peas recipe is available online here

The walnut sauce recipe, which is so worth making as an accompaniment, is:

1/2 cup shelled walnuts
5 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste
1/4 cup vegetable stock or cooking liquid from black-eyed peas

For sauce, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Put in the walnuts and let them boil rapidly for 3 minutes; drain. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and stock in a blender. Crumble the walnuts and add them as well. Blend, pushing down with a rubber spatula when needed, until you have a smooth paste. Pour the sauce over black-eyed peas and serve. 

This sauce would be great on anything - stir fry, steamed vegetables, beans, etc. It has a wonderful flavor. If you don't like things too lemony, I'd reduce the lemon just a tad. 

Bon Appetite and Happy New Year! 



23 comments:

  1. Happy new year ! The peas look great !!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh how COOL - I have never even SEEN black-eyed peas before - wow, they really do look like black eyes, haha.

    who knew? Well you and all the south but this Yankee has never laid eyes (pun intended) on em before this post.

    Neat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Trina I from the South and my Mom would cook those "peas" and I'm proud to say I never ate one black eyed pea in my life...no thank you...but Happy New Year to you and your family:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy New Year, Trina. I had to chuckle when I read your post because I'm like Mike and my husband is like you. In fact, my husband doesn't like recipes at all. He'd rather wing it and create something from what we have on hand, whereas I get a thrill from choosing a recipe, shopping for the ingredients and then following the recipe exactly. Sometimes I do make substitutions and vary the ingredient amount -- how daring! You know, we live in the South and I've never fixed black eyed peas (or collards) for New Year's. Maybe next year.
    Claudia

    ReplyDelete
  5. I had my black eyed peas! The sauce looks great must try that next time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy new year. I love this pic, very great!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy new year! My cooking makes my recipe following husband and mother nervous too. I like to use them as suggestions and tweak given mood, available ingredients, tastes for the day. Sometimes disasters but usually delicious! I will have to try this recipe - our black eyed peas are very traditional - onion, bit of pork, jalapeño.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The walnut sauce sounds wonderful! I saw your guest cottage in Country Living, it is perfect! I love the ceilings, good idea with the 2 x 4's!
    marsha.kern@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice photo. I guess I have never seen black-eyed peas because I never knew that they really have black eyes!! Happy New Year and looking forward to more great posts.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy New Year! We love soup with black-eyed peas. The walnut sauce sounds delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think you and mike should have your own cooking segment on the cooking channel. You have such wonderful and healthy recipes. Thank you for this. Happy new year dear Trina

    ReplyDelete
  12. It was wonderful reading the article about your guest renovation. It turned out beautiful. I have printed off your Black Eyed Pea recipe. It sounds delicious. Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Since we live in an area where black eyed peas, purple hull peas, and cream peas are grown, we freeze peas in the summertime to enjoy during the winter. I'm always happy to hear that people in other parts of the country have adopted some Southern traditions.

    This recipe sounds very delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I never had even heard of black-eyed peas until I came to the South. But I married a true southerner :-) and living here in TN, black-eyed peas are certainly something we eat fairly often! The recipe looks wonderful and I think may be a way I can use up some of the herbs in our garden!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Happy New Year to you and your lovely family. We live in the South and we love black-eyed peas. Can't wait to try this recipe with the walnut sauce!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Happy New Year. I wish my husband would eat black eye pea. I am from the South and love them

    ReplyDelete
  17. Delicious! I did prepare your recipe and it is so good. Love the walnut sauce, too. Was a bit hesitant on that one and it is great! Also, I used red pepper flakes instead of the whole pepper and turned out just fine. Maybe I have hard time following a recipe to the letter, too!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Kathy,
    I'm so glad that you liked it! The walnut sauce makes the dish I think. I almost skipped it but glad we didn't.
    Happy New Year!
    Trina

    ReplyDelete
  19. A Georgia peach, born and raised here. Our tradition is to have black eyed peas, collard greens, and cornbread. Oh my a good meal any time of year in my opinion! :) I'll have to give your recipe a try. Thanks for sharing! Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Like Michele, I hadn't seen the "eyes" until I saw them here in their raw state.

    Since you're talking about roads and cooking, I can't help but wonder what "road" led you and Mike together. Your happiness is so heart-warming. Anyway, if you ever felt like sharing in the future...but no pressure...

    Happy New Year! Take good care.

    Em

    ReplyDelete
  21. I can't wait to try this recipe...meanwhile, I am chuckling! I find it impossible to follow a recipe to the letter! I cannot refrain from adding something, changing something, or leaving other things out completely! And yes, yes, yes! My baking is particularly vulnerable to problematic complications! Those finite chemical natures of baking just don't cooperate!
    Thank you for the recipe and for the chuckle!
    Happy Blessed New Year to all of you!
    xoxo, Chris

    ReplyDelete
  22. I so love your blog! It quietly 'screams' peaceful & calm! I also love that you're kind of a neighbor, too...ok, kind of not if you count that pesky beautiful Columbia River that separates our two states:)

    I made your walnut sauce last night-delicious!! We put it over adzuki beans that I had mixed with sautéed kale & garlic! Squeaky clean meal:) Thanks for sharing!

    Enjoy the weekend!~~Dona

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving your thoughts. Kind regards, Catherine