For as long as I can remember, I've made Deborah Madison's Braised Collards on New Year's Day, with her Southern Style Black-Eyed Peas alongside. So when my mom asked for the recipe late last year, I thought it'd be easy enough to just send her a link to my blog.
Back in 2013, Liza Shaw joined me at Food Lit to discuss Charlotte Druckman's Skirt Steak: Women Chefs on Standing the Heat and Staying in the Kitchen. Since then Liza has taken on more heat by opening Merigan Sub Shop and was recently featured in the Chronicle's food section. My family loves beans and greens are often in our CSA box, so I had to try her recipe.
This is a recipe I've been trying to make for a while, but it is just more effort than I usually put in. Last night I swore at the cookbook and threw it on the floor after realizing too late that the quinoa had to be cooked in advance. But now that I've made it, I have to say: this stuff is crazy delicious and worth all the work.
The photos are beautiful and the concept is great, but so far I'm striking out with this cookbook. First the cruncny farro, now a dinner that elicits "Ew! Crusty? Brown? I won't eat it!" To top it all off, I singed the crust.
We make these semi-spicy peas to serve alongside collard greens every New Year's Day. Today I made them because collards came in last week's CSA box, not to celebrate the new year.
We have made this recipe every New Year's Day for at least a decade, along with every other day that we happen to have collard greens. Like when they come in the CSA box, as they did last week.
This year, as I have for probably every other New Year’s Day since gaining access to my own stove, I cooked rice, black eyed peas and collard greens for dinner. Even though I’ve used the same recipe for at least a decade, they never seem to taste quite the same.