You’re feeling a little besieged and set upon. Last night you were in a high speed run down with a lovely little MiG that had shown a little too much thigh, but the sun has risen on a new day and you realize that you were only being lured into a SAM trap. You’re defending the best that you can, breaking and ditching and putting out chaff and flares but the missiles keep flying by your canopy, the RWR is screaming into your headset and pretty soon you’re going to be in gun range. You’re out of altitude, airspeed, and pretty nearly out of ideas.
What you need is a lovely Bloody Mary:
INGREDIENTS
- 2 oz vodka
- 6 oz V8 juice
- 1 tsp horseradish
- 1/2 tsp fresh lime juice
- 4 dashes Tabasco sauce
- 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 1 pinch peppers
- 1 pinch celery salt
- 1 celery stick for garnish
PREPARATION
Add several ice cubes to a highball glass containing celery stick, grind some pepper on top and add some celery salt to make seasoned ice cubes. Add all other ingredients to a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes, and shake well. Strain the mixture over the ice cubes in the highball glass. Squeeze a lime slice over the drink and drop it in the glass.
Once you’ve recovered to straight and level flight, it’s time to get working on the Hoppin’ John:
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 pound dried black-eyed peas
- 2 small smoked ham hocks or meaty ham bone
- 2 medium onions, divided
- 3 large cloves garlic, halved
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 1 can (10 to 14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with chile peppers, juices reserved
- 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
- 3 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, minced
- 2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 green onions, sliced
PREPARATION:
In a large Dutch oven or kettle, combine the black-eyed peas, ham bone or ham hocks, and 6 cups water. Cut 1 of the onions in half and add it to the pot along with the garlic and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer gently until the beans are tender but not mushy, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Remove the ham bone or hocks, cut off the meat; dice and set aside. Drain the peas and set aside. Remove and discard the bay leaf, onion pieces, and garlic.
Add 2 1/2 cups of water to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover, and simmer until the rice is almost tender, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Mince the remaining onion then add to the rice along with the peas, tomatoes, and their juices, red and green bell pepper, celery, jalapeno pepper, Creole seasoning, thyme, cumin, and salt. Cook until the rice is tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the sliced green onions and the reserved diced ham. Serve with hot sauce and freshly baked cornbread.
There. That should get you through the day.
Glad to see you have regained control and will live to fight another day.
Happy New Year, sir.
I’ve always maintained that just a splash of beer on top of a Bloody is the missing ingredient, you know, for the fizz.
And then of course that beer is open, and getting warm so…
Aw man! now even old recipes are Wiki! *sigh*
But you MUST add jalapenos to the cornbread for New Years.
And add a deep fried turkey to the list. NOW you have the traditional New Years meal. ‘Round heah anyhoo!
Having some Hoppin’ John later today, compliments of the mother-in-law. It’s 23 and snowing outside here in the Indy area, that’ll hit the spot I’m sure.
Happy New Year to you and your family, Sir.
Nice. But, for a change of pace, try a BM whose parts are clamato and gin. Not too much on the supplements….nice and clean. We got hooked on the clamato method a few years ago and can’t get the ship turned around.
Happy New Year!!
Hoppin’ John in the pot, slow-cooking to tasty perfection. I suspect there are collard greens lurking in the house as well.
Pity none of our (newish) neighbors hereabouts in Seattle understand the importance of such traditions.
Lex,
As I am apparently the only member of the household here who understands the importance of hydration and motrin before retiring, it’s been up to me to prepare the new year’s meals.
Then youmg’ns of mine still haven’t understood that their apparent immortality is mere illusionary. Ah well…..
When I get up i fire up the coffee and then start to work producing cheese omellets for the tribe. I make each one with 2 eggs, a tablespoon of heavy crean. and a dusting of sea salt. The real trick is to cook each one in a small skillet with 2 tablespoons of butter. Whip the eggs well, along with the milk & salt, then pour into the pan and let it cook until almost done. Flip it over, add the cheese to one side, fold the top and let it cook for 30 seconds. Voila!.
After that, It’s a pot of beans & rice with summer sausage.
Add some butter & olive oil to the pot, then dice and sautee 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, and 1 vidalia onion. sprinkle with sea salt then chop and add 1 large beef summer sausage (I prefer Hickory Farms) but any BEEF brand will do.
When that’s all nicely done, add 1 can black beans and one can black eyed peas.
While that is simmering to heat the beans, cook up a pot of rice. i usually use 2 cups of Goya brand, with a tablespoon of evoo and a tsp of salt. Add 3 cups of water, set it on the stove. When it starts to boil, turn down the heat to med-lo and cover until done, about 20 minutes.
It’s wicked good, especially served with ice cold beer,
Oh, I lurves me some Hoppin’ John. One can get a close simulation of it in the Publices, here in FL (Margaret Holmes brand I believe) but I suspect your recipe is better.
Oh, and I betcha only Lex is kewly&manly enought to steam down the catapult and slip the surly bonds, while balance Champagne flutes on his wingtips.
!
Snork! and Happy New Year!
Dang, I can’t let that one go. Wish there were preview.
Oh, and I betcha only Lex is kewl&manly enough to steam down the catapult and slip the surly bonds, while balancing Champagne flutes on his wingtips!
Hey JTG, you still imbibing or what?
Must be good stuff! [ICSWAFH]
Happy New Year!
The Neptunus Lex Lounge, with your friendly bartender Lex.
Sadly, yes, Michelle. I was twitching all day at the noise from overhead, and gave in and bought me some thin beer. As you can see from my second attempt, I can still rite gud, when paying attention. Ma’am, I tell you that some of my more erudite comments were posted when I was incapable of walking without assistance.
Heh, I believe ya.
Seem to having a little party of one mself at the moment.
But I’m enjoying it, so what the heck …
Strange, I’m tempted to type ‘Rock on’, but that would be so … 70ish, wouldn’t it?
I have no idea where I would use a Dutch Oven on a tin can. Do you have a place to dig a bean hole on a bird farm?
I took some Hopping John to last night’s New Year’s party hosted by some members of our church, although a vegetarian version.
It went over pretty well; several said it was the first time they’d had anything they liked with black-eyed peas. (Probably a mob of northerners.) And yes, the corn bread ought to have jalapeños in it.
Good thing there’s still some leftovers.
Cheated and started on the hoppin john last night around 1 a.m.
Skipped the hangover. But suddenly craving a Bloody Mary. Go figure. Happy New Year Lex.
Ummm…. Beans and rice I can understand, but no hot dish? No green bean casserole? No jello-based dessert?
Must be a southern thing, where having enough fat and booze to keep the blood moving isn’t quite as necessary as it can be in northern climes.
Happy 2008, Lex. It’s -4f degrees here. That should be all the information you need to declare your New Years Day to have been enjoyable.
After all, you could be at Naval Station Great Lakes teaching introductory hygene. Or something. Instead you’re eating Hoppin’ Johns and probably warding off the winter chill with a long-sleeve shirt in southern California.
Taken as a package, that’s not such a bad deal.
– Max
Happy New Year! to all…and…I found a great aviation story about a crashed T-33 and 54 days in the mountains in 1957 over the “long weekend.”
Moral of the story: When it hurts…keep putting one foot in front of the other…or crawl a little further.
Happy New Year all!
May it be blessed for all.
Todd
I’m in Valparaiso and we are buried. Looks like we got about a foot.
Richard
The dreaded NW Indiana Lake Effect Snow, eh? Got to experience it first hand during my recruiting tour back about 17 years ago (wow – it’s been that long) at Navy Recruiting Station LaPorte. That and the ending of questions with ‘with’ (We’re going to the movies, want to go with?) are my two big memories of ‘The Region’.