As long as I can remember, black-eyed peas have been a must-eat on New Year's Day. That's the way it is in the south. Folks in the north, not so much. Lots of y'all see them as cowpeas, which they are.
Eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck and prosperity for the upcoming year. Does it work? Depends who you ask. I'll always remember my first father-in-law; God rest his soul. One year his best horse died, he got laid off from his job, and his barn was struck by lightning and burned down. He swore off black-eyed peas for the rest of his life.
Not so here at our house. Actually, the queen has a great traditional black-eyed pea recipe, even though she changes it, depending somewhat on what's in the refrigerator. This year, she started with her basics and added. She always starts with chicken stock and dried black-eyed peas. This time, she put a pound of dried peas into her slow cooker, added chicken stock an inch higher than the peas and let them soak for an hour. She has some ham leftover from Christmas dinner in the freezer, so she chopped it into chunks and added about two cups. She put the lid on and set the cooker on high. After about four hours, she pulled the lid, stirred and then added a little more chicken stock for the peas to soak up.
Every 30 minutes afterward, she'd look, stir, and check texture. As the peas began to soften, she chopped a medium yellow onion and about a cup of fresh celery and browned it in a skillet with butter. Once the peas were soft, she added those veggies and stirred them in. She dug into the fridge and found some fresh made salsa from the New Year's Eve party and added a cup of that. Then she added a teaspoon of salt and about half a teaspoon of black pepper.
When they were done, she served them with fresh onions and homemade cornbread.
That recipe actually makes a nice meal on its own merit.
So, here's to 2024. May your horse live, your barn not burn, and you keep your job.
