Dec 31, 2015

Southern Black Eyed Peas with Smoked Sausage

Southern Black Eyed Peas Recipe

It's a Southern tradition to eat black eyed peas and collard greens on New Year's day. If you dig down far enough, you'll find I'm a Southern boy in my heart. In fact, one of the "worst" insults I can hurl at my brother Phil is "yankee"- he was born in Connecticut and went to school in New York. But he HATES being called a yankee (but oddly "yank" is ok since that's what our unenlightened Aussie friends call all 'Mericans).

In any case, black eyed peas = good luck for the coming year. And collard greens = wealth (green = money, get it?). I usually sub out the collards for roasted brussels sprouts, or kale.

And I totally stole this recipe from Emeril.

I also usually do some sort of feat of strength on New Year's Day in the morning. I usually do a trail run, but I think this year I'm going to do Atomic Athlete's Christmas Eve pain-fest:

80# sandbag
100x Burpees over Sandbag
100x Sandbag Back Squats
100x Sandbag Get-ups

On to the recipe.

Black eyed Peas- adding in the onion

Southern Black Eyed Peas

Ingredients

1 pound GF smoked sausage, chopped
1 medium size yellow onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 sprigs fresh thyme
4 bay leaves
3 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
8 cups chicken stock
1 pound black eyed peas (fresh is best, dried is still great, frozen will work) (if you use dried peas, be sure to soak them overnight)

Directions

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Throw in the sausage and cook for 2 minutes

Throw in the onions, salt, cayenne, chopped garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and parsley. Cook for 8 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.

Add the chicken stock, black eyed peas, and minced garlic. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. The peas are done when they are tender.

Enjoy in a small bowl, with your greens of choice. Cornbread also goes well with black eyed peas.

Black eyed peas- finished

Happy new year!