Happy New Year: Good Luck Stew Recipe

Happy New Year, Friends! I hope you had fun welcoming in 2014.

Tonight, for dinner on this first night of the new year, I made what I have now dubbed “Good Luck Stew.” I made it up – the name and the recipe. A little of this and a little of that…but it turned out yummy good. So, that’s the first bit of good luck, I suppose.

Here’s the recipe(-ish):

Good Luck Stew:

One package of sausage – I used Aidell’s Chicken and Apple Sausage (5 link-package), but you could use pork sausage or any other kind. Pork is good luck on New Year’s (symbolizes prosperity), but we didn’t have pork sausage, so I went with what we had. (I did have bacon in some beans at lunch – that counts as my new year pork. Whew!) Slice the sausage into coin-shaped pieces.

Some olive oil

One onion, chopped.

One bunch greens – I used collards (traditional Southern good luck food on New Year’s, symbolizing money/wealth), but you could use any greens. Chop roughly, removing any tough stems from the ends (I don’t take out the ones in the leaves; only the ones under the leaf, if that makes sense).

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. dried rosemary

Kosher salt & pepper

4 cups chicken stock or broth (I used stock because I had it on hand)

1 can black eyed peas (good luck food, thought to symbolize coins)

splash of cider vinegar

hot sauce (optional, to taste)

Add two swirls around the pan of olive oil to a dutch oven (I used a cast iron one but a regular ol’ one will do fine) and heat on medium-high heat.

Once hot, add sausage slices. Cook until starting to brown. Add chopped onion. Cook until translucent and starting to brown, about 8 minutes or so. Add black-eyed peas, 1 scant tsp. kosher salt (or less, but my black-eyed peas didn’t have salt already added to them), some fresh ground pepper (maybe 1/2 tsp – I didn’t measure), thyme, and rosemary. When you add the rosemary, rub it between your palms to release the oils and then dump it into the pot. Add garlic, stir to combine, and cook for 30 seconds more.

NOTE: I used thyme and rosemary because I used chicken sausage and it wasn’t heavily seasoned. If you use pork sausage, you might want to change the thyme to sage, or add nothing if the sausage is heavily seasoned already. Use your own taste buds as a guide.

Add greens and stir to coat the greens with the onion-garlic-herbs-sausagey goodness. Then add the broth and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then simmer, lid on, for about 15-20 minutes, or until the greens are wilted and cooked through. Before serving, add a little splash of cider vinegar.

Serve with rice or cornbread and hot sauce on the side. A few squirts of Tabasco made me happy in my stew.

Enjoy!

I wish you all the best of everything in the new year!