My husband Peter has a saying: “Whatever you do on the first day of the year, you’ll do the rest of the year.” In the past, my New Year’s Day often included a greasy hangover breakfast and bloody marys. Not necessarily what I want to be eating for the rest of the year.
More recently, I’ve added black-eyed peas into first-of-January plate. Black-eyed peas are a traditional New Year’s Day menu item in the south United States. It’s considered good luck to eat them today, and make a fine hangover cure when prepared with plenty of salt, pork fat, or smoked meat.
Also, like most legumes, they’re packed with fiber and inexpensive too, especially if you start with dry beans. Make a big pot of black-eyed peas and you’re one step toward keeping your financial and diet-related New Year’s resolutions.
Texas Caviar
, Hoppin’ John
, Black-Eyed Peas and Collards – there’s as many recipes for black-eyed peas as there are hangover cures.With so much variety, you can eat them all year long.
Photo credit: Nep
Tagged as:
budget-eating,
comfort-food,
food as experience,
holiday-cooking,
low-key-gourmet,
winter
Last night I prepared one of the most gourmet dinners I have prepared in a very long time. It was incredibly fancypants. What’s really wonderful about this highbrow meal is I spent about 10 minutes preparing it and the cost was under $5.
Pizza. Simple, glorious pizza. It was the ingredients that made it fancy. Proscuitto. Arugula. Tapenade. The words sound expensive. This pizza was so fancy, that I’m not even going to give you the amounts of each ingredient. It’s the kind of pizza that a gourmet chef could make by casually tossing ingredients together, adding this and that to her liking.
Damn, it was good.
Pizza with Prosciutto, Arugula and Olive Tapenade
- homemade or prepared pizza dough
- olive oil
- olive tapenade (Trader Joe’s is inexpensive at $2.99 a jar)
- grated mozzerella
- proscuitto
- fresh arugula
Roll pizza dough into desired size and shape. Transfer to pizza stone, cast iron skillet, or baking sheet. Brush entire surface with a light coating of olive oil. Spread a thin layer of tapenade on the dough. Layer additional ingredients as desired, but save some of the parmesan for the top. Cook in 400 degree oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Tagged as:
blue-palate-special,
budget-eating,
comfort-food,
low-key-gourmet,
recipe,
so-little-time
Sometimes a blogger has to take something back. A few posts ago I wrote about how the best Mexican food could only be found 500 miles south of Portland. Well, that was before I stumbled upon La Tarasca in Centralia, Washington. In my defense, I didn’t write anything about what lies north. Now I am.
La Tarasca is a tiny oasis on Main Street in Centralia, tucked among the vacuum repair shops and abandoned storefronts of this tiny farm community. It’s a family-owned and operated business. Based on reviews in Yelp and Trip Advisor, this tiny cantina has attracted fans from up and down the northwest states.
I ordered the carnitas, which were slow-cooked rather than fried and packed with flavor. Peter had the chili verde, which was bright green and tasted like fresh chilies.
Homemade tortillas, people. It’s all I really have to say, but I’ll go further. The beans and rice were perfect cantina style, served on a big hot plate. While La Tarasca does not serve free chips, they do a tangy, spicy verde salsa to pour over your entree or tortillas and pickled carrots that I ate like they were candy. For dessert, we tried the flan. A little too thick for my liking, but the flavors of caramelized sugar and creamy custard were a perfect finish.
There are a couple of other reasons to visit Centralia: Olympic Club (the coolest McMenamins yet), antique shopping, historic murals. If you are inclined, you could make La Tarasca your only reason.
Photo credit: J. Zay
Tagged as:
comfort-food,
international,
low-key-gourmet,
road-food,
travel
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