My New Year meal was a success. Close call on the black-eyed peas though. Instead of using water, I pulled out some homemade vegetable stock and combined it with some chicken stock. While it was heating to pour over the peas, I picked out some spices and put them in a coffee grinder and turned it all to powder to add to the cooking liquid. One of those spices was some of the homegrown peppers which were basically flakes. .5 tsp was putting it on the margin of being too hot. Probably was too hot for some folks, but in the end was okay. The seasoned stock was really excellent even before the spices were added. Celery, 1# ham cubes and a couple of bay leaves were in the peas. No extra salt needed with ham and veg stock. Now I have to replenish the veggie stock and restock some in the freezer. Served the peas over rice. Sauteed half a large onion and added crumbled bacon to go with the kale. Opted to stay traditional and made cornbread instead of dinner rolls.
For dessert, I think these might properly be called maduros. A ripe but not mushy plantain. Cooked in the air fryer with some olive oil and agave nectar mixed up to coat them. I think they might have been even better if I'd smashed them and recoated some more of the nectar/olive oil and then cooked them a bit more, but they were good.
Biggest surprise was the wine. It's an inexpensive Australian Cabernet that I buy all the time. The current bottle was noticeably sweeter than usual and very smooth. I think some other wine must have gotten bottled accidentally
. Normally it's very consistant. Had a bottle of it last week. I don't think my cooking nibbles alone were enough to alter my perception of the taste
