Black Eyed Peas For The New Year

In the southern US, black eyed peas are eaten on New Year’s Day for good luck and are often accompanied by cooked greens and cornbread.  Since it’s the peas that bring the good luck and not the greens, which we don’t care for, we had only peas and cornbread.  By the way, since I was born on Friday the 13^th, I don’t put much stock in luck traditions.

Bev usually just doctors some canned peas, but since Sam from My Carolina Kitchen just posted her recipe for the dish, we decided to begin with it and add our own twists.

Black-Eyed Pea Soup – Adapted From My Carolina Kitchen

1 lb. package black-eyed peas                       

2 T. bacon grease

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 cup celery, finely chopped

1 peeled carrot, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1¼ teaspoon herbs de Provence

10 oz Rotel

2 bay leaves       

½”  thick slice center cut ham – cubed & sauteed a little to brown

7 cups water
Worcestershire sauce (optional)

Optional other garnishes include sour cream, grated cheese, chopped green scallions, chopped cilantro, seeded & chopped jalapeno peppers

1. Soak peas overnight in a large stock pot with plenty of water to cover. Drain, rinse, and put back into the stock pot with the water, ham, Rotel, and bay leaves and bring to a boil.

2. While the peas are coming to a boil, sauté the vegetables in 1-2 tablespoon of bacon grease (or oil) in a non-stick skillet until softened and beginning to caramelize. Stir frequently.

3. When browned, sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and add the dried herbs and stir then add the sautéed vegetables to the peas.

4. When peas come to a boil, simmer, partially covered, until peas are tender, adding more liquid if necessary. 

5. Before serving, taste for salt, add if necessary, and discard bay leaves. If you want a touch more flavor, add a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce (I forgot to).

6. Garnish as desired.

Note - the original recipe calls for more carrots and some tomato paste which I excluded due to the sweetness they would add to the dish.

We sided the peas with some cornmeal muffins and called it a meal.

Everything was a big hit and we are now expecting good luck for 2014.

Then we settled in for a little football watching by the fire.  As you can see, the dogs were really into the games.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/1/14 meal date