I'm Just Sayin'

If I don’t find happiness and prosperity in 2011, it will be Julia Child’s fault. Because of Julia, I did not make my Lucky New Year’s Soup this year. I live in the South, where we place great stock in eating black-eyed peas, collard greens and pork on New Year’s Day. A few years ago I developed a recipe for soup that contained all the required ingredients, could be made during halftime of a bowl game, and was lighter than the traditional grease and calorie-laden holiday meal.

But I didn’t make it this year, because of Julia. You see, I picked up a copy of My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme. (Okay, I snagged the book off my brother’s coffee table when I was at his house for Christmas. I think he might have borrowed it from someone else, but I’m not sure I will have the fortitude to return it.) I started thumbing through the book last week, reading a passage here and there, checking out the photographs. And the book inspired me to cook a chicken.

I’ve cooked lots of chicken over the years, mostly breasts charred on the grill, baked with rice, or sautéed and served with pasta. But I had never cooked a whole chicken. I can hear Julia now:

“Tsk, tsk, young lady.” (Yes, I believe Julia would call me young lady. It’s one of the reasons I love her so.)

“There’s nothing like a nice, fat, roasted chicken. You absolutely must cook one immediately.”

Can’t you just hear her wonderfully shrill, nasally chortle? Love, love, love.

So I did it. I roasted my first whole chicken, stuffed with lemon, rosemary, garlic and onions, skin massaged with olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. It was beautiful. It was fragrant. It was delicious. It was a lot of meat for one person!

So I threw the carcass into a pot of water and made my own stock, which I then turned into roast chicken and wild rice soup. At this point, I swear Julia was looking over my shoulder, humming, sipping sherry and prompting me to add a pinch of this or a drop of that. Oh, the comfort of cooking soup on a cold day! Oh, the anticipation of dipping some good crusty bread, slurping up the savory, salty broth!

It was a happy, day long project. And at the end of the day, I had a big pot (a really big pot) of tasty soup. And it was December 30. Two days before time to cook Lucky New Year’s Soup! I know what you’re thinking. I could have frozen the chicken soup and gone ahead with the New Year’s tradition. But seriously, I never seem to get around to actually eating any of the stuff I freeze, and my freezer space is a little cramped with martini glasses, beer mugs and Edy’s Gourmet Limited Edition Peppermint Ice Cream.

So I have postponed the New Year’s Soup until later this week. Surely, for the love of butter, grits, and Texas Pete hot sauce, the gods of southern superstition will forgive a few days’ lapse. If not, Julia’s got my back. I just know it. Just sayin ...

Lucky New Year’s Soup

3 cups cooked black-eyed peas or yellow-eye beans, drained of cooking liquid
8 slices bacon
2 cups chopped onion
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup water, or more as needed

1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon allspice
Pinch of dried thyme
Splash of hot sauce, or to taste
3 cups frozen chopped collard greens
Salt and pepper to taste
Small can (single serving size) Spicy Hot V8

Cook bacon in large soup pot. Drain on paper towels and crumble. Reserve 1 tablespoon drippings in pot. Add onions and garlic to soup pot and sauté over medium-low heat until onions are soft, scraping bottom of pan to loosen brown bits. Add next nine ingredients (through collard greens) and increase heat to medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper, V8 and beans. Reduce heat to low and simmer until beans are heated through. Add water if necessary to achieve good ratio of broth.

Serve topped with crumbled bacon if desired, accompanied by corn bread.

If beans and bacon are cooked ahead of time, you can assemble the soup during half time and it will be ready to eat by the start of the third quarter.