After the roller-coaster economic ride of 2009, I’m guessing many of us would welcome some good fortune heading into the New Year. One way to usher in good luck is to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. At least that’s what many people believe, particularly in the southern United States.
Why argue – particularly if you’ve got a good black-eyed pea recipe. And we do. It’s a Greek dish. It comes courtesy of Jim Botsacos, who prepared it during a recent conference sponsored by the Culinary Institute of America in California’s Napa Valley.
Botsacos is chef and partner at the critically acclaimed Greek restaurant Molyvos and the Italian eatery Abboccato, both in New York. And we learned something from him we hadn’t realized about Greek food: Black-eyed peas are a staple in Greece.
“People are always surprised when I tell them black-eyed peas are used in Greek cooking,” said Chef Botsacos as he prepared a dish of slow-cooked black-eyed peas with onions, tomato and wild greens on stage at the CIA.
In his demonstration, the chef showcased a Greek form of cooking known as traditional lather style. It comes from the Modern Greek word for olive oil: lathi. The dishes are slowly cooked on the stove top in rich olive oil-based sauces.
The black-eyed pea dish involves braising red onions in extra virgin olive oil until they’re soft and translucent. Next comes chopped tomatoes, garlic and more extra virgin olive oil, followed by cooked black-eyed peas. Chef Botsacos adds greens such as Swiss chard, kale, mustard greens, or dandelions. Fresh spinach gets folded-in at the end to give the dish “a fresh vibrant appearance and flavor.”
Eat up – and here’s to a happy and prosperous 2010!
Bon appétit,
Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch
