Pizza at Home - Happy New Year Black Eyed Peas Pizza

Happy New Year! Wow 2020 sure was something. Pizza is usually on Sunday, but this is New Year's Day and I've got a special pizza planned. 

Growing up in a southern family, I remember that every New Year's Day, along with our meal we'd have Black Eyed Peas. According to Southern Tradition, eating Black Eyed Peas on New Years Day is thought to bring good fortune and prosperity in the coming year. We could certainly use some of that going into 2021. 

My mother loves black eyed peas in general, but they're not always easy to come by. I was fortunate to spot a can of them at my local Walmart. Growing up, I remember sitting in the living room, everyone with a big pile of black eyed pea pods and just shelling them into a bowl while watching tv. 

I know my folks weren't thinking pizza when I asked them what would be good to have with black eyed peas. Let's see, Ham, yes I can do that. Spinach, easy enough. Candied carrots, never made those before but I'm sure I can figure something out. Potatoes, it's not the first time I've done potatoes on a pizza, so I know how to make that happen. The only thing I'm not going to do is the corn bread. I've got a pizza crust instead. 

I think that checks the boxes for flavor. Sweet with the carrots and savory with the ham. 

Starting with the carrots, I'm following a recipe from theblackpeppercorn.com for Candied Carrots. Because I'm just making enough for 1 pizza, I'll be making a half recipe and I'm sure I'll still have leftovers. I peeled and boiled above 225 grams of carrots. 

For my glaze, there's brown sugar, butter, honey, cinnamon, and salt. How could anything be bad about that? 

That goes into a pan and then comes to a boil. The smell of this brought a few people to the kitchen, thinking they were smelling cinnamon rolls baking. It did indeed smell fantastic. 

After bringing that to a boil, the carrots go in and the whole thing simmers for 5 minutes. 

I peeled a couple small potatoes, used the mandolin to get thin, even slices, and soaked them in water until I was ready for them. 

Use my own recipe for Joe's No-Knead Pizza Dough, I plopped the risen dough onto a floured piece of parchment.

I floured the crust and my hands to press the dough out into a round shape, making sure to leave a crust on the edge. Gotta keep those bubbles. 

I used potatoes on a pizza back when we had that Potato, Bacon, Egg, and Cheese pizza. For that one, I sliced the potatoes thin and put them on the pizza raw. They cook just fine in the 12 minutes that this is cooking in the oven. 

On top goes our main item, the black eyed peas, along with some cubed ham pieces. 

On top of that goes our Candied Carrots. Theresa said they looked like little pepperonis. For this pizza, I'm not putting any cheese on it. I think it'll be good just like it is. 

On my second pizza, I'm splitting it half and half. Pineapple, cubed ham, and pepperonis on one side. Ian said he wanted extra pepperoni on the other side. I got it looking pretty good and then invite Ian to check it out. He suggested that I should add a few more pepperonis. 

Happy New Year kids! Let's hope for some good fortune and prosperity in the new year!

About 4 minutes before the pizza was done cooking, I added spinach to the top. 

Black eyed peas, carrots, ham, spinach, and potatoes. Looks pretty good to me!

The other pizza looks delicious too. 

My first plate. 

I tried it and... it was actually very tasty! The carrots added a nice sweetness. I ended up having 3 slices of the Black Eyed Peas pizza. 

Theresa, because it didn't have any tomato sauce on it, thought it was much better than she was expecting as well. Richard and Chi often repeat "I haven't ever seen a pizza like this", but they both liked it too. 

Alli gave it a thumbs sideways. She ate her slice, but it wasn't her favorite. 

Ian wouldn't try my special pizza, opting only for his extra pepperoni slices. He did enjoy those very much. 

What will the new year bring? Certainly some changes and some things we can't plan for, but here's hoping for a prosperous and healthy new year!