And A Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2016! The holiday festivities have been plentiful and I am feeling renewed to start another year. Ben and I have been in the States with family since the week of Christmas, which has been delightful, and tomorrow start our return journey to London from Raleigh, with a quick stop in New York.

Today though, we celebrated the new year as it should be: with each other, with family and with delicious home cooked meals. My father-in-law put the Rose Bowl on the television, Ben drank whisky and we wrote down our resolutions — just one each, on cream Crane & Co. stationery and sealed to be opened on December 31. We started working on dinner together and opening bottles of wine once the sun had set. My family always served a traditional meal on New Year’s Day, including Hoppin’ John. A blend of slow cooked black-eyed peas and rice, the very Southern dish is meant to bring prosperity for all who eat it in the year ahead. There are a variety of ways it can be made, but here’s how I prepare it without bacon (which is more common), and adapted from a favorite Food52 recipe:

Kristen’s Hoppin’ John
2 cups black-eyed peas, soaked overnight
1 yellow onion, diced
1 green pepper, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
Olive oil
Thyme
Paprika
Chicken stock (or vegetable — really whatever you have on-hand)#
Cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in olive oil on medium heat until soft — about five minutes — and then add the celery and green pepper for another five minutes. Toss in a teaspoon of thyme and two dashes of paprika. Add the black-eyed peas and then chicken stock (I used two cups stock, two cups water), leaving to simmer for 30-40 minutes until black-eyed peas are cooked. Drain any excess liquid. Add tomatoes. Add dash of cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice, piping hot!