December 30, 2008

Wednesday's Chow: Southern Black-eyed Peas

Note: I really didn’t like black-eyed peas, but as it’s a southern New Year’s Day tradition to eat them for good luck, I tried this recipe I found in a local newspaper. It’s delicious and tastes nothing like those canned peas I grew up with.

Southern Blacked-eyed Peas

1 1-pound pkg dried black-eyed peas
2 quarts water
1 onion, chopped
¼ green pepper, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
Ham bone, piece of salt pork or
Several slices of bacon

Wash the peas; soak overnight or at least five hours in fresh, cold water. Drain off soaking water; put peas in a large pot containing at least 2 quarts of fresh water. Add onions, green pepper, celery and ham bone or bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook about 2 hours or until peas are tender to mash easily. Add water as needed while cooking.

Serve will freshly cooked rice and cornbread.

Anna Kathryn Lanier
www.aklanier.com
A COWBOY'S DREAM - Top Ten Best Seller

10 comments:

LORETTA CANTON said...

Hi,

I'm just like you, I don't like them but eat them on New Year Day. We make hopping john with the peas.


Loretta

Amy said...

I'd much rather eat black-eyed peas than sauerkraut, which was my mom's tradition before we spent a few years in VA and I lobbied for a change in our tradition!

TJ Bennett said...

Even easier--open a can of Glory southern seasoned black-eye peas. So good you'll wanna slap yo mamma. :-) I used to make my own, but these are just easier and tastier, and they don't taste canned at all. Even my kids will eat them happily.

TJB

Anonymous said...

I'm peripheral South in Texas. Trust me. My Georgian friend said I could wear a GRITS (Girl Raised In the South) shirt because Texas was kind of South... Well, I've never eaten a canned black-eyed pea in the 41 years I've drawn breath. They come in cans??? I hate canned food. (I do eat canned butter beans and pintos...) And I love black-eyed peas.

Kim Smith said...

lol I LOVE them... having grown up on them and cornbread. We were poor back then by most folks standards, and to sit down to a plate of peas and bread and maybe a bit of side meat, well, it was good. My mama grew tomatoes out back of the kitchen and we would have some of those too, or a slice of onion. This recipe sounds great, and I am looking forward to getting my "dose" tomorrow! thanks for sharing!

Christie Craig said...

That sounds really good!!

CC

Paul McDermott said...

This recipe sounds more like what we in Liverpool call "pea wack" ... BUT instead of dried BLACK-EYED PEAS we use dried YELLOW SPLIT PEAS. Ribs, ham bone, fatty remnants from bacon (or ham) are the meaty element of this dish!

"Black Peas" are well known in WIGAN and other parts of Lancashire as the ONLY thing to eat alongside fish 'n' chips on the way home from the pub ....!!

Anna Kathryn Lanier said...

Thanks for all the comments. I'm with you Amy, I don't like sauerkraut either, but cabbage is a New Year's tradition, too. I've had it as cabbage rolls and cole slaw. But I don't do sauerkraut.

Paul, I wouldn't have put black peas with fish n chips...interesting to know.

Happy New Year's.

Anna Kathryn

Barbara Edwards said...

Hi,
since starting reenacting, this has become a New year's day staple.
Barbara Edwards

Anonymous said...

I just got back into town. We had our Black-eyepeas and cabbage. We had fried cabbage this year for the first time of course you know it was good since it was fried.

Love you,
Carla