New Year's Good Luck Gumbo and Grapes

When I considered edible ways to celebrate the New Year before we had kids, I pictured champagne, lobster, and caviar on New Year's Eve, and maybe a Bloody Mary and a Greek omelet for brunch around noon the next day. But that was back before you had to take out a second mortgage and robocall every teen in the school district to secure a babysitter on New Year's Eve, and before our dear children thought 7 a.m. was sleeping in on January 1st.

In recent years, New Year's celebrations have become family affairs. We get together with friends and their children to enjoy a chaotic, family-friendly celebration of the fact that we actually remembered to buy a new calendar to keep track of our busy family schedules before January arrived. While we may pop the cork out of a token bottle of champagne around midnight, that sweet bubbly nectar no longer defines our celebrations (at least, not as much as juice boxes and strong coffee to stay awake until the ball drops).

I recently started searching for information about what fellow Americans consider essential or traditional New Year foods, and I was surprised to learn that black-eyed peas top the list, especially for those whose families originally hail from the South.  (Some people even hide a coin in the stew to symbolize prosperity, but I wouldn't recommend that!). My friend Marilyn Miller McSpadden of Waxahachie, Texas, explained the tradition to me: She said it dates back to the Civil War when the fields of humble black-eyed peas were the only crop to survive pillaging by Sherman's troops. The peas became a vital source of nutrients for the surviving Confederates, and have henceforth come to symbolize good fortune. (For more, see Black-Eyed Peas, a Southern Tradition for Luck and Prosperity in the New Year on About.com.) Our friend, Sara Emley, who lives in Durham, North Carolina, created this black-eyed pea gumbo (a Southern spicy stew) for her family and friends to enjoy on January 1st. We like to serve it with grapes, which are linked to the New Year in Spain and Peru (they eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve for good luck every month of the year).

Recipe: New Year's Good Luck Gumbo

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 tsp. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
• 1 cup quick-cooking brown rice
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 29 30 oz. canned black-eyed peas, with their liquid
• 15 oz. diced tomatoes, with their liquid
• 4.5 oz. canned chopped green chilies, with their liquid

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, peppers, celery and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 8 10 minutes.
• Add the rice, cumin, black pepper and the bay leaf and stir it for about one minute until the rice is glistening. Add the broth, peas, tomatoes and chilies. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer it, uncovered, for 15 20 minutes until the rice is tender and much of the liquid is absorbed. Remove the bay leaf before serving.
• Tip: For a meatier meal, brown 1/2 lb. sausage with the vegetables, or stir cooked shrimp into the finished dish.

Preparation and Cooking time: 30 minute(s) 

6 servings, about 2 cups each

What are your family's New Year's food traditions? Please share in the comments below.