Black-Eyed Pea Fritters

Every year on New Year's day I cook black-eyed peas for good luck in the new year - see previous blog post http://princess-peach-kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/01/fortunate-food.html for the explanation - and this year was no different. (Okay, last year I didn't cook black-eyed peas on Jan. 1, but I was seeing the pyramids in Egypt that day, and there was no kitchen. A lot of sand and some camels, but black-eyed peas not so much.) Anyways this year I decided to do something different rather than the steaming pot of beans, or scattered artfully over a salad, as I've done in various years past. This year I decided to make spicy fritters. Here's how I did it:

Ingredients
1 can black-eyed peas in water
1 small onion
1 egg
Approx. for all ingredients following - use to taste:
1 tbsp. flour (For a gluten-free substitute fine corn flour would be good)
1 tsp. cayenne
1/2 tsp. chili pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A few red pepper flakes

Method
1.) In the morning drain the beans and rinsed them, then pour them in a bowl with fresh water to soak. *If using dried beans then you'll want to do this overnight, even, to make sure the beans are soft enough to cook by dinner time.
2.) Before cooking, drain the soaked beans in a colander and then put them in a large mixing bowl and season with the spices. Stir in the egg and flour. Mash the bean mixture using a potato masher. I kept the texture a bit chunky, with about a fourth of the beans still intact in the mush.
3.) Mince the onion and then saute in a medium skillet in oil until translucent. Add a few red pepper flakes to the pan, stirring around with a wooden spoon. (Can be omitted of course, I just like everything spicy.)
4.) Remove the cooked onion from the pan and stir into the bean mixture. *You could use raw onion in these fritters to omit the extra step, but since I don't enjoy the taste of raw onion it's worth it to me to cook them beforehand.
5.) Add more oil to the pan - a good frying oil like vegetable or grapeseed - and increase the heat. Shape the fritters with clean hands and place them into the pan. The oil should sizzle around the edges of the fritters.
6.) Flip the fritters after a minute or two - the sides should be golden brown - and brown the other side. Remove and drain on a plate with a paper towel to soak up excess oil.
7.) Serve the spicy fritters warm over greens (I had spinach on hand, but mixed greens would work, too) and enjoy.

Happy New Year!

Fortunate Food

Every New Year, my mother made black-eyed peas for good luck - I never knew where this tradition stemmed from but assumed it's "a Southern thing" as so many of her family's habits are.  I researched the practice and found that the good luck traditions of eating black-eyed peas go way back - recorded in the Babylonian Talmud (compiled around 500 CE!) at Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. In the United States the first Sephardi Jews arrived in Georgia in the 1730s, and have lived there continually since.  The Jewish practice was apparently adopted by non-Jews around the time of the American Civil War.  Now considering that my mother's family lived in Georgia ... well now I have to make them every year, or risk having a bad luck year ...

Here's a big ole pot of piping hot spicy black-eyed peas, starting with sauteed bacon, onions, red pepper and a jalapeno, and the beans, properly soaked over night, along with some diced tomato and a cup of chicken stock and enough water to just cover them, simmering in the spices (I use Creole spice blend, chili powder, paprika, cayenne and of course salt and pepper to taste.) Cook the beans for at least an hour until they've plumped up and soaked in all the flavor.  Real Southerners eat these with a shot of Tabasco.

For my New Year celebration dinner I decided to make roasted Cornish hen filled with cornbread stuffing - after all, what's Southern food without meat and cornbread?  And I must say it turned out positively pretty:

 Note I served up the hen - so cute! - on a platter adorned with fresh parsley, pecans and cranberries for some color.  I prepared the Cornish hen by the classic stuffing-trussing-roasting method: 

1) I began by making cornbread stuffing with chicken sausage, onions, carrots, parsley and pecans.

2) I prepped the Cornish hen by removing the giblets, washing that baby, filling it with stuffing and lacing the legs up with cooking twine.

3) I lay the hen in a baking pan on a bed of sliced onions, carrots and lemon segments, seasoning the bird with salt and pepper and grating some lemon zest over top, squeezing the juice from the lemon over the skin.  I tucked fresh rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley in between the legs and the breast and fit two cloves of garlic in the skin, to infuse the meat with herb flavor (this part is rather fun, like decorating a little Christmas tree ... of raw poultry, that is) and then drizzling melted butter all over the bird - I use the organic alternative but go for the real thing if it suits you - and then pop it into the oven at 425 degrees.

4) I roasted it for about 45 minutes, then switched to broil to brown up the skin for a few minutes and turned off the heat, letting the hen cool down in the cracked oven to distribute the juices evenly.  Slice into this girl and find the flavors of the cornbread stuffing have all melded together, encased by soft meat and a sunny yellow crispy skin.  I discovered Cornish hen to have a delightfully sweeter flavor than boring baked chicken, with a natural delicacy and tenderness that's positively regal.  Happy New Year, may it be filled with deliciousness abound!