Seasonal Pantry: Celebratory recipes for the new year

In a few days, we will say goodbye to 2014, which has, by many measures, been a difficult year. Sonoma County has lost several treasures, people who loved this place and shaped it in myriad ways that will help our agricultural traditions and our environment thrive and endure. We’ve said goodbye to SSU professor John Kramer, former Sebastopol Mayor Michael Kyes, rancher Bruce Campbell and environmentalist Bill Kortum, the losses that had the most personal impact for me.

When you welcome in the new year, hold them in your thoughts, as I will, and perhaps take a moment to ponder how to honor their contributions. On New Year’s Day, plant a few winter vegetables, go for a walk along the Santa Rosa Creek or the Laguna de Santa Rosa, enjoy a few hours at Bodega Head and drive extra slowly as you pass the Solar Dragon on the south end of downtown Sebastopol.

As we head into the new year, some things have changed for the better. Reservoirs have, to a large degree, been replenished. The drought may not be over, but the wet December has been a joy.

By New Year’s Day, the holiday season is over for most people. Sad Christmas trees, some with a few strands of tinsel, lean against trash cans; ornaments are tucked away for another year; wrapping paper has been recycled. But for some of us, there’s more to come. There’s the Eastern Orthodox Feast of the Nativity on Jan. 7, and on Jan. 6 is Twelfth Night, also known as King’s Day, Three King’s Day, Little Christmas and Epiphany, a long tradition in my family.

Jan. 6 is also the start of Carnivale season, when the first seasonal parades that lead up to Mardi Gras in New Orleans take place. Locally, Dominique Cortara of Dominique’s Sweets will have King’s Cake at the Santa Rosa Original Farmers Market and the Sebastopol Farmers Market this weekend.

For New Year’s Eve, my plan, which is to say my menu, is similar to Christmas Eve’s: Dungeness Vichyssoise with olio nuovo; chilled Dungeness crab with my Louis dressing, hard-boiled eggs and lettuce; and, for dessert, toasted and chilled tangerine segments with salted caramel chocolates, with plenty of hard cider and sparkling wine alongside. (These recipes are available at “Eat This Now” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.)

On Twelfth Night, I’ll serve a more robust dinner, with a roast of some sort - lamb, perhaps, in honor of Bruce Campbell, or a rib roast, which Michael Kyes so loved - and lots of winter vegetables.

Two of the main attractions of Epiphany are that it is a quiet, gentle holiday, without the constant demands to shop, shop, shop, and that by early January, the days are noticeably longer. Although today it is within the Christian canon, this time of year was celebrated by our long-ago ancestors who reveled in the return of light long before they understood the natural rhythm of its disappearance and reappearance. It is a hopeful time of year, with the promise of spring on the wing and an awakening landscape. Happy New Year, y’all, and Happy Twelfth Night, too.

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Even when I plan a menu, I often change my mind at the last minute if I something strikes me at a farmers market, fish shop or such. As I write, I’m planning on crab for New Year’s and Epiphany, but if I stumble across some wild Gulf shrimp I might do a New Orleans menu instead. No one seems to know why this dish, which you find all over New Orleans and nearby areas, is called Barbecued Shrimp. There is no barbecue or barbecue sauce, as we think of it, involved. There are many versions, with this one my take on the classic versions I’ve tried. One of the secrets to success is to not overcook the shrimp.

New Orleans Barbecued Shrimp

Serves 4 to 6

4-5 pounds large wild Gulf shrimp, heads intact

8 ounces butter

4 ounces olive oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

3 lemons, very thinly sliced

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons Lea and Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, plus more to taste

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons Spanish paprika

2 teaspoons dried oregano

3-4 tablespoons ground black pepper

Kosher salt

Hot hearth bread, preferably sourdough

Rinse the shrimp under cool water, pat dry on a tea towel and set aside briefly.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Put the butter and olive oil into a medium saucepan set over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the garlic and simmer gently for about 2 minutes. Add the lemons, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, red pepper flakes, paprika, oregano and black pepper.

Put the shrimp into one large or two smaller heavy pans or skillets - cast iron is ideal - and season all over with salt. Pour the sauce over the shrimp, set on the middle rack of the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to turn the shrimp over and cook until just translucent, 5 to 10 more minutes.

Remove from the oven, divide among soup bowls, spoon sauce on top and serve right away, with hot bread alongside.

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Black-eyed peas, served with some sort of greens, are a New Year’s tradition through the American South and are said to bring good luck and financial well-being for the new year. This recipe makes a good first course before barbecued shrimp, as I’ve lightened it a bit so that there is plenty of room for the shrimp. Collard greens are usually served alongside, but I prefer Cajun-style coleslaw (also available at Eat This Now at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com) with the prawns, as it refreshes the palate.

For dessert? Bread Pudding with Lemon Whiskey Sauce, of course.

Almost Hoppin’ John with Andouille

Serves 6 to 8

3 tablespoons bacon fat, duck fat or butter

1 small yellow onion, cut into small dice

1 celery stalk, cut into small dice

1 garlic clove, cut into small dice

Kosher salt

Black pepper in a mill

1 teaspoon dried thyme

½ pound andouille, preferably from Franco’s One World Sausages, cut in ¼-inch rounds, optional

3 cups cooked black-eyed peas (canned are OK, if they are drained and rinsed)

3 cups cooked white rice

Juice of 1 lemon, optional

5-6 green onions (white and green parts), trimmed and cut into thin rounds

Put the fat into a large sauté pan set over medium-low heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté until soft and fragrant, about 10 to 12 minutes. Do not let them brown. Add the garlic, sauté 2 minutes more and season with salt and pepper. Add the thyme and the andouille, if using, and sauté, turning frequently, until the andouille is cooked through. Add the black-eyed peas and the rice, toss and heat through. Taste, correct for salt and pepper and balance with the lemon juice, if needed. Remove from the heat and let rest a few minutes.

Divide among individual plates or bowls, garnish with green onions and serve right away.

Michele Anna Jordan has written 18 books to date, including the new “More Than Meatballs.” Email Jordan at michele@saladdresser.com. You’ll find her blog, “Eat This Now,” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.