Welcome 2021 {Traditional New Year Feast}

Welcome 2021! After a lazy day of watching The Crown, I got to work on my traditional January 1 supper. It took me sixteen years, but I finally proclaimed mastery of making this meal in 2019.

Our menu includes pork, hoppin john, greens, cornbread, pecan pie, sweet tea and sparkling grape juice. It’s a meager meal by most standards, but one we all love to welcome a new year.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

This is a great recipe courtesy of my mother in law. We love pork on the Big Green Egg, but this one turns out perfectly in the oven. I go this route on January 1 because it tends to be a cold and/or rainy day in Georgia.

2 lbs pork tenderloin (I use one package, with two pieces)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T red wine viengar
1 T dijon mustard
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper

Whisk marinade ingredients together; Pour in large zip top bag, add pork and let marinate for at least 2 hours, turning occasionally. Remove pork to wire rack on a baking pan, reserving marinade. Roast at 325 for about 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes.

Hoppin John

This recipe combines a few that I’ve used over the years.

6 slices bacon (uncooked) chopped
1 c celery chopped
1 sweet onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme (I used 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 cups chicken broth
container fresh black eyed peas
1 c uncooked rice

Cook bacon in a dutch oven over medium heat until starting to crisp, about 10 minutes. Add celery, onion, green pepper, garlic and spices/herbs. Cook, stirring occasionally until onion is tender, about 8 minutes. Add broth, black eyed peas and rice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until peas are tender and rice is cooked, about 30-40 minutes. (Watch it closely!)

Lucky Greens

This one is an adaptation of a Southern Living recipe.

4 bacon slices
3 tablespoons butter
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 bottle ale beer
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
6 pounds fresh turnip greens, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Cut bacon crosswise into 1/4-inch strips. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat; add bacon, and cook, stirring often, 8 minutes or until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet. Sauté onion in hot drippings 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in bacon, ale, brown sugar and pepper; cook 3 minutes or until mixture is reduced by one-fourth. Add collards, in batches, and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until wilted. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook 1 hour or to desired degree of doneness. Season with salt and pepper.

Pirates House Pecan Pie

The BEST pecan pie around. It’s only better when served a la mode.

9 inch pie crust — unbaked (I use Pillsbury)
3 eggs — beaten
1/2 cup dark Karo
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons bourbon
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter — melted
2 cups pecans — chopped

Beat eggs well. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 375° on cookie sheet 40 minutes or until center is set. Cool and refrigerate.

Note: I always cover the edges of my crust with foil when baking so that they don’t over brown.

Honey Cornbread

My favorite cornbread is the honey cornbread mix from Krusteaz. 

Timing Tips

  • Timing all of this can be tricky. I start with marinating the pork early in the day.
  • About two hours before dinner, I prepare the pecan pie first and put that in the oven.
  • This year I cooked an entire package of bacon in the oven on a wire rack at the same time as the pie. I saved the drippings for the Hoppin John and Greens recipes. It worked wonderfully, made clean up easier and saved some time!
  • Towards the end of the pie completion, I get the greens going.
  • As soon as the pie comes out, the pork goes in the oven.
  • Next I get the cornbread ready to go in the oven.
  • Now start on the Hoppin John. Once it is done, I just turn the stove off and let it sit covered. That was only for a few minutes before we sat to eat.
  • In the last 30 minutes of the pork, put in the cornbread. Since the pork cooks at a lower temp than the cornbread, once the meat came out to sit and then cut, I jacked the temp back up for the cornbread.

Honey brought the flowers home from our first Costco visit since February. What a treat!! The place cards are old and I laminated them so we could use them often.  The “21” was the “12” from Whit’s birthday cake in reverse. {flower arranging tips from a novice  |  quick tip for roses}

Since we had champagne and sparkling grape juice left from New Years Eve, I got out the Waterford millennium flutes. We each gave a toast and our wishes for the upcoming year based on our flute design: love, happiness, peace and prosperity. It was fun to hear what everyone said and I think we will start doing this every year!

By the way, in starting to write this post, I think I diagnosed where we went awry in 2020…. it was the first year in 17 years that I didn’t cook my New Year Feast! We were up at the crack of dawn on January 1, 2020 to head to my cousin’s wedding. Needless to say, we are back on track! :-) On that note, I’ll leave you with this that made me laugh out loud.

Happy New Year!!!

Dixie Delights
join me as I travel, decorate, create & celebrate
Instagram | Pinterest

Dixie Travels
perfectly planned trips & our travel adventures
Book Now | Learn More
Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest

DIXIE DELIGHTS DELIVERED

| Filed under celebrate | Tags: , ,

5 thoughts on “Welcome 2021 {Traditional New Year Feast}

  1. There is a vast difference between pork loin and pork tenderloin, your recipe title has tenderloin but the actually recipe calls for loin. Please let us know which you actually use!

  2. Your tablescape is lovely as always and your dinner looks as though it were delicious!
    Thanks for subjecting us to 2019😂, don’t do it again😁!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *