Recipes to ring in the new year

Lucy Buffett (yes, Jimmy's sister) runs the exceedingly popular Lulu's at Homeport Marina, a restaurant on the Intracoastal Waterway in Gulf Shores, Ala. Her "high-class dive" attracts boaters, families, tourists and neighbors to dine on casual-beach-bar type food. Although most menu items are expected, some astound. For example, joining the usual fried crab claws, chicken fingers and salsa and chips on the starter menu is an unusual dish of black-eyed peas.
Lucy says she took the recipe from a "redneck-lawyer, rogue-gourmand friend," gave it a twist and put it on her menu. She makes it in 20-gallon batches.
Southerners believe that eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Eve or Day brings luck and prosperity. We can't attest to that, but we can guarantee that eating Lucy Buffett's black-eyed peas brings a good deal of dining pleasure any day of the year.
SLIDERS
Vinology, a wine bar/restaurant in Ann Arbor, Mich., focuses on wine. The décor features wine-related paraphernalia, and the food is designed to enhance wine. That doesn't mean the food comes second. To the contrary, Vinology's food is highly creative and seriously good. Take its sliders, for example. They might look like hamburgers, but they are made only from the most luxurious meats and seafood, such as lobster, duck, venison, bison and salmon.
"We serve sliders late nights at the bar," chef Jim Leonardo says, "and they're also a popular hors d'oeuvre with the guests at our parties and receptions, being easy to eat, fun and really full of flavor."
Although the sliders may seem complicated to make, most of the component parts, including the patties, can be made in advance.
And as a bonus to cooks, the recipes used to season, top and flavor the slider patties (the rub, slaw, compote and spread) have a life beyond sliders with a multitude of uses.
CHOCOLATE TARTS
Each year, Lake Charles, La., sponsors a Rouge et Blanc festival, featuring fine wines and the best food from restaurants and food outlets in the city. All of the booths tend to be popular, but the year I attended, the line waiting to sample Shively and Gene Lampson's fare was the longest of them all, no doubt because the Lampsons were serving a deeply chocolate, richly delicious tart — one of the best desserts ever.
The Lampsons, who owned a healthy foods retail shop and now run a nutritional consulting, cooking and raw-food classes business, says that the tarts aren't just another pretty treat. "The tarts are made with unprocessed and uncooked plant foods, so they are good for vegans, vegetarians and raw-food dieters," Shively Lampson says. The more uncommon ingredients are available in natural food stores or the organic aisles of large supermarkets.
The Lampsons make these tarts by the hundreds. They freeze well and can be made ahead for parties.
THE AU NATURAL
Every party deserves a signature cocktail, and although we can't make a case that the Au Natural falls into the health-food category, we can tell you that the path to the drink's creation was paved with good intention.
The Au Natural reigns as the signature cocktail of the AAA Four Diamond Hotel Andaluz in Albuquerque, N.M. The drink is made with health-enhancing ingredients (pomegranate and acai), but despite the fresh flavor and good intentions, the Au Natural is a seriously potent alcoholic beverage.

Brought to you Courtesy Of the Grocery Guy Steven Banass