Soul Food New Years ;-)

My Sweet Old Man and I were feeling pretty under the weather this New Years, so we had no problem with staying home this New Decade. The one thing about New Decades is that they bring to mind many of the Old Decades, and this year was a good one to pursue some of the old traditions, all of which seem to be concerned with accumulating money in the New Year. You eat Black-Eyed Peas, you get a dollar for every pea you consume. (That seemed a bit light by todays standards, so I upped it a bit to $10 a pea.) Greens also mean money, and Collards are the best. So the menu was formed--Hop-A John, Collards and Cornbread. "What meat?" MSOM asked but I had an answer for that one.

"We don't need no stink'n meat." No living creature died to provide us with our meal this year. We also have Sweet Potato Pie (complete with homemade pie crust, not by me, I'm sorry to say.) MSOM helps people with their computers and sometimes they are grateful. This friend was TWO pies grateful!

First I went to the store to get the Collards, because it takes a long time to cook Collards properly. Collards here are VERY different from Collards back in Georgia. When I was a kid we bought them in huge, bound bundles, dripping sandy red mud, enough to cook down and feed an army for $3. Here they are spotlessly clean, bound in small bundles of about six to ten large leaves, and I bought six bundles today at $1.69 a bundle. These are some kinda "mutant" Collards, too, because the ones we used to get were TOUGH unless you cooked them for six or seven hours, and these are already getting tender. When you finish cooking them, no long how long it takes, they need to fall apart when you touch them with a fork. First, though, you have to clean them, and there is a trick to it. Wash the leaves, then you hook a finger into the space between the main stalk and gently separate the leaf from the stalk. Then drop the leaf pieces into a pot of boiling, salted water. You should have stripped stalks to throw away that look like the stalks above.

Soon you will have a large pot simmering that should simmer slowly from three to six hours. You can add meat, ham, hambone, meat stock, or my personal choice, vinegar and hot sauce, but don't let them fool you. Just because the leaves turn pretty and shiny dark green doesn't mean that they are ready to eat. They need to simmer for a long, long time. Even California Mutant Collards. Hop-A John is actually a Southwestern dish, and is very simple. One can Black-Eyed Peas, white rice (I cheat and use the ten minute kind) and lots of salt, pepper, pepper sauce, margarine (or Butter Buds) and my choice--my own home grown balcony hot thai peppers to spice it up. Pile the peas on the rice, and enjoy. I add Jiffy Mix corn muffin mix cornbread to the meal ( and ignore my mother turning over in her grave.) I remind her that she has to pick her battles and I do the Collards RIGHT! The truth is that I just can't cook cornbread or drop biscuits anything like the ones she used to make effortlessly. Pile up your plate and enjoy. Pour pepper sauce or vinegar on the collards and slather the cornbread with butter, honey or jam. And make sure you have Sweet Potato Pie for dessert, even if you have to buy yours. By the way, this was Vicky and Bud's reaction to the news that I was cooking them SOUL FOOD!

(Not really, but I'm going to keep putting pictures of them up until they join the site. It's worked before!!!) ;-p Mari