New Year's Soup

A blessed New Year! This soup nourished us today, and kept the tradition going. The photo is blurry but will have to do. S asked me to please remember how I made it so I can make it exactly the same again. (How can you possibly make soup exactly the same again?)

New Year’s Soup

By a Californian of Southern Descent

1 lb black-eyed peas

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 hot chiles, minced

(or 2 tbsp chile-garlic paste)

1 bell pepper, minced

1 tbsp “better than bouillon” chicken base

1-2 cups chopped ham

handful swiss chard leaves, chopped

(or substitute fresh spinach)

Rinse and clean black-eyed peas. Put in large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil one minute, remove from heat and let rest one hour. Meanwhile, chop vegetables. Saute onion, garlic, chiles and bell pepper in a bit of olive oil until soft. Drain peas and return to pot with sautéed vegetables, chopped ham and chicken base. Simmer until peas are soft. (I cook in pressure cooker for five minutes under full pressure, letting pressure drop naturally. This usually cooks the peas sufficiently.) Add chopped swiss chard and simmer until of desired consistency.

This delicious soup will use up the rest of the Christmas ham, while providing you with your traditional New Year’s black-eyed peas and greens.

Serve with cornbread and a bottle of Tabasco sauce. Can be served over a mound of rice for a version of "Hoppin' John." Feel very lucky, healthy and ready for a new year.

Chili-Garlic Paste

Not a timely post (much more Christmas going on than chilis, but oh well) but I wanted to post this.

When our chili pepper garden took off last summer, I made a Chili-Garlic Paste as a way to store the chilis. It was a great success, and when S brought in the last batch of chilis last month (last post) I made another batch, hopefully to see us through the winter. I actually took some photos which I just found. (It's been a long month.) I mince assorted chiles from the garden with fresh garlic in a food processor, and freeze the mixture in "plops" for later. I use the paste frequently for Asian-inspired dishes, soup or even just chicken for a weekday dinner.

My trusty (antique?) Cuisinart is perfect for this.


Recipe? I cleaned, seeded and cut the chilis in fairly regular pieces and threw in an appropriate quantity of peeled garlic cloves.


Then I processed lightly until the mixture was minced finely, but not pureed. Sometimes I add a touch of olive oil to hold it together, but didn't this time.


I spooned the mixture onto a lined baking sheet in "plops" and froze them for a couple of hours. The plops then went into a freezer-weight zip bag and into the freezer.


I love to take one or two of these out of the bag and throw into some hot olive oil - saves time and is much fresher-tasting than bottled commercial chili paste - and they add a great flavor to chicken breasts or soup. Besides, it's fun.

By the way, our chilis were not hot this year....even the deadly habaneros were just sort of uncomfortably hot, and the jalapenos were downright mild. Only the cayennes were true to form. That made our salsa kind of boring, but the combination worked well for the Chili-Garlic Paste. YMMV.

Last of the Red Hot Peppers

Although a few of the tomatoes are still blooming and setting fruit, the peppers are pooped. S picked the last harvest of the hot peppers and brought in this lovely assortment. The cayennes and jalapenos are now in the dehydrator, and I'll make garlic-chili paste with the anaheims and poblanos. We still have the usual problem of what to do with the habaneros. To my mind, they are only good for giving to friends with studly sons who like to show off how much heat they can take. We're still having fairly warm days, so I hope we have more

tomatoes before it gets chilly.

I had surgery on my left foot last week, and have been recovering at home and getting lots of knitting done. I think I've finished four charity hats and a few Christmas gifts, and have several projects on the needles still. I can move around some now, but can only be on my feet a few minutes at a time. I'm enjoying the rest, but am itching to be outside. I did sit on the patio this afternoon for a while, knitting and enjoying the fresh air (and yes, my foot was up on the bench).

Goodbye, Mr. Stripey

I will miss you. You've been such a delicious treat, and oh so worth waiting for. I hope to see you again next summer.

what to do on a hot afternoon

To celebrate actually having a garden (and a harvest), last week I decided to make salsa. We certainly had the peppers and tomatoes for it. S harvested the peppers and did the mincing (and the Pampered Chef chopper was a life-saver) while I peeled tomatoes and assembled the other ingredients. We were halfway in before I hauled out the mason jars and hoped that I had lids for them all...fortunately I had bought a box of new lids before putting all the canning stuff away last year. I sound like this is a regular event....actually it occurs every couple of years when I make plum jam, which is my idea of putting-by.

S took off for an appointment and I spent a couple of hot, steamy hours in a 90-degree kitchen. When I finished, I had this:

Eight jars...a lot of work, but very satisfying. To celebrate, we had Huevos Rancheros for dinner. Next time, I need to remember to assemble jars and lids before chopping ingredients, and to add more jalapenos. Otherwise, a success. (Recipe is Fiesta Salsa from the Ball Blue Book.)