Ah, another year has arrived and with it the superstition of food for good luck. Here in the South an annual ritual - allegedly guaranteed to bring good luck - is to have black eyed peas on New Year's Day. I've been adhering to this little superstition for a number of years and so the afternoon of December 31st found me pushing a cart down the grocery store aisles in search of a nice can of black eyed peas. When I got to the canned veggie aisle there was nary a can of BEP to be found. Harrumph. So it goes when you wait until late afternoon to do your shopping. What to do? Being an inventive sort I thought to look for dried peas. Nope...not a bag in sight. Hmmm...do I take my chances and forego consumption of the legume of luck or do I go to another store and procure a can? Would it really matter (yes, I know the answer to that and I don't need you to tell me). What happened if I ate MY black eyed peas but family and friends didn't eat theirs? Would my luck be affected as well? So many questions and not a can of peas in sight. Resolved that it didn't matter I continued my shopping, eventually meandering over to the frozen food aisle. A thought occured to me...maybe some inventive soul has bagged some FROZEN peas...so I took a peek. Sure enough on a top shelf, just barely within reach of my short self, was a bag of frozen BEP. Eureka! All thoughts of whether or not it matters to eat or not to eat them disappeared. I had my bounty. Since this wasn't the usual canned peas I normally bought I decided I needed to see if I could fancy them up a bit. So, I looked up some recipes online and found one that looked easy enough that even I couldn't muck it up. So here is my NYD BEP recipe. Even dear hubby liked them and he doesn't often comment on the veggie selections. I think the only thing I would add to this another time is a little chili or cajun spices to liven them up a little more.
Black Eyed Peas
Ingredients
1 chopped onion
1 bag frozen black eyed peas
1/2 - 1 cup diced ham
1 can chopped tomotoes
salt/pepper to taste
pinch garlic powder
other herbs/spices to taste (I think I tossed in a pinch or two of savory)
olive oil
Heat olive oil in large pot.
Chop and saute onions
Add your spices after the onions are cooked and translucent. I like to add them so they'll heat up in the pan. I think it brings out more of the flavor.
Add diced ham and heat through
Add full can of diced tomatoes, juice included.
Add black eyed peas and then simmer for a bit.
Always keep a bit of onion aside for sprinkling on the top. My grandfather, "Pop" never had his black eyed peas without some chopped onion on top for extra flavor. Happy New Year, y'all and good luck with that...
3 comments:
We did dry black eye peas this year, for the first time. I have to keep my salt intake low, and that was a brilliant way to do so: the canned ones are full of salt! Frozen would be good too. Gosh, keep blogging girl :)
Hey, thanks! I enjoy posting the recipes. I come from a family of pretty good cooks (Meredith is an EXCELLENT cook...I'm just mediocre compared to her). I like cooking and sharing recipes so I thought I'd give that a try. It's easier for me than sharing my deepest darkest secrets! Coming up next: chicken tortilla soup.
Gary- the girl can cook as well- I will be having me some BIP and greens!
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