As you can see by the calendar, 2014 is almost history and 2015 is just around the bend! Hopefully, it was a good year for you and that this new year will be even better! I wish all readers of rootshed.com a happy and safe new year coming up.
Here in the south, one food that is traditional with New Year’s is black eyed peas. It is said that eating these on New Year’s Day will bring good luck throughout the year. It’s also been said that eating cabbage on New Year’s will bring riches in the new year. While these are mostly old wives tales, it certainly won’t hurt to serve these foods on New Year’s Day!
Speaking of black eyed peas, here in the southeast, many southern cooks take black eyed peas and dress them up into a dish called “Southern Caviar”, which I’m passing along to you. Before I continue, let me assure you that this does NOT contain the gourmet caviar that costs a small fortune! This is a very affordable “caviar” that is also full of good nutrition. This is served as an appetizer, which would be perfect if you’re having a New Year’s party this coming Monday night.
While this dish is great as an appetizer, this could also be served as a salad. Serve it with tortilla chips and you have an appetizer. Serve this with a main dish and you have a salad that counts as a vegetable. One major advantage to this dish is that it should be made in advance to allow the flavors to blend with each other, so that will make it easy when you’re getting the food for your gathering ready.
Last year, I did an article on non-alcoholic beverages that would enable you to toast the new year in safely. Here’s the link, just in case you missed it the first time:
http://rootshed.com/article/toasting-the-new-year-safely
Bring good luck to yourself and others by serving this traditional New Year’s dish!
SOUTHERN CAVIAR
- 4 cups canned black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 (16 oz.) can white hominy, drained
- 1 cup chopped green pepper
- 4 green olives, sliced
- 1 cup Italian salad dressing (the oil-based version)
- snipped fresh cilantro and sour cream for garnishing
Combine all ingredients up to the olives, mixing well. Stir in the salad dressing. Cover and chill for 1-2 days. To serve, garnish with cilantro and sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips. Yield: 2 quarts.
