All posts filed under: one-pot meals

Lucky New Year Black Eyed Peas

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In my family, there are only two holiday meals where the menu absolutely, positively can’t be futzed with: Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.  With my mother doing less of the holiday cooking, Christmas has become somewhat free-form. The traditional dinner has evolved into brunch served family-style at my house. This year, the star was a lovely ham accompanied by piles and piles of bacon and served alongside a Tortilla Española.  To tell the truth, I think the star this year may have been the piles and piles of bacon–we went through 3 pounds that day!  This Christmas, I made my life a little easier by purchasing a HoneyBaked ham, and when the last slice of ham was eaten, I wrapped that lovely ham-bone and saved it for The Meal That Must Not Be Changed: New Year’s Day Dinner.  For as long as I remember, our family has eaten black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year’s Day–those sweet and creamy peas cooked for hours with the Christmas ham-bone until the chunks of ham fall off the …

Coq Au Vin

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The first time I ever had Coq au Vin was during the summer semester before my senior year in college.  One of my favorite professors, who was also a gourmet cook, made this dish and shared it with me and forever changed the way I thought about food.  I remember biting into a beautifully browned mushroom bursting with red wine and feeling that I was eating my first adult meal.  I also remember wondering if it was ok for me to eat it since I wasn’t yet 21 (I was both very sheltered and very, very square in college)!  I remember how special I felt after that first bite–that my professor had thought to share such a lovingly prepared, and to my inexperienced palate, decadent, dish with me! Now I realize that the dish itself is not so much decadent, as it is classic French, rustic, country food, but was every bit lovingly made and incredibly delicious. To this day, this is how I love to cook and why I celebrate the Autumn season with …