New Year's Recipes

As promised, here are the "recipes" (aka improvisations) I used for New Year's Day dinner, turnip greens and black-eyed peas. Actually, this is less for our faithful readers than it is for me, so I know where to find the recipes next year when I make them again. I still don't know where my original recipes and notes are.

Turnip Greens
Ingredients:

• 6 bunches of turnip greens
• one box of vegetable broth
• 3(ish) Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• one onion, diced
• 6(ish) cloves of garlic, minced
• 3(ish) handfuls of various dried mushrooms (whatever's available should work)
• 1(ish) Tbsp ground cumin
• 1(ish) Tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2(ish) Tbsp onion powder or dried minced onion
• salt and pepper to taste

Stem, rip up, and wash turnip greens.

Saute the diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil. Add turnip greens in handfuls to fill the stock pot. Add vegetable broth when it starts to look to dry in the pot.

As the greens cook down, add more handfuls until all are in the pot. Add mushrooms and seasonings and stir to make sure everything is submerged.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 4 or 5 hours. Serve hot.

Slow-Cooker Black-Eyed Peas
Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of dried black-eyed peas
• 3(ish) Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• one box of vegetable broth
• 3(ish) handfuls of dried mushrooms (use same as in the greens)
• one onion, diced
• 6(ish) cloves of garlic, minced
• one 28-oz can of diced roasted tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1(ish) Tbsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

Soak peas according to package directions (I used the quick-soak method). Add all ingredients into large oval slow cooker, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve hot.


Cornbread
Prepare cornbread according to Alton Brown's "Cornbread No Chaser" recipe in I'm Just Here for More Food. (This one is a very traditional Southern cornbread.) And/or the "Crunchy Munchy Corn and Millet Bread" recipe in the January '09 issue of Eating Well magazine. (This a yeast bread and more chewy and bread-y than Alton's. It also takes 2 days to make.) Serve both with butter. Yum!


You might want to prepare another main dish, like chili, for folks who aren't into black-eyed peas and turnip greens (who perhaps you might be married to).

Possum-Breath Chili (modified)
An R. Wilson Original
Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground turkey breast
• 10 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can no salt added tomato sauce
• 6 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
• 3 Tbsp tabasco sauce
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
  
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 oz grated bitter chocolate
• 1 1/2 to 2 tsp salt (to taste)
• 1 can of diced roasted tomatoes + water sufficient to equal 1 quart
• 1 Tbsp cocktail bitters
• 1 c. brewed decaf coffee
• 1/2 c. masa cornmeal
• crushed pepper and garlic powder to taste

Brown meat and drain. Dump everything but cornmeal into a large Dutch oven or crock pot. Heat just to boil. Immediately cut heat, cover, and simmer for 6-8 hours. Begin tasting at 4 hours and add whatever needs adding. Stir in cornmeal. Simmer uncovered for an additional 30 minutes, stirring on occasion. Serve hot. Can be made ahead (preferable if you're making all of the above as well) and reheated on the day of serving.



If you try any of these at home, let us know how you like them!

P.S. Everything went over very well with our dinner guests, and several took leftovers home to enjoy later.