Well, mama cooked up big pot of black-eyed peas, as she always does for the New Year, and I got a little tidbit of the ham she flavors them with. So now we have this huge pot of peas that she has frozen to take back on the (finally!) ferry on Saturday, along with other stuff for our delayed New Year’s party for the neighbors.
Mama says you can mix a few cups of cooked black-eyed peas with a fresh sweet onion or a few scallions, a cup of sweet red pepper, a garlic clove, all chopped fine. You may even throw in some cooked corn kernels and fresh cilantro and toss with olive oil and wine vinegar and you’ll have yourself some honest-to-goodness Texas Caviar, cheap at any price (except for waiting for the black-eyed peas to cook!) and certainly cheaper than Beluga!
And a recipe called Hoppin’ John is made with cooked black-eyed peas, cooked rice, a little sweet onion, chopped and sautéed in olive oil, some cooked black beans (if you have any around—canned will do) and some crispy bacon bits thrown in with a bit of fresh cilantro.
Right now I am salivating all over the computer so maybe I should go help mama make that cornbread and collard greens she serves with her peas. The greens are for having greenbacks in the New Year, the peas are coins, and if you leave 3 peas on your plate when you’re finished, you’ll have fortune, romance and luck.
I could use a little of all three although my heart belongs to daddy, haha.
Happy, happy New Year and thank you for reading my often erractic and irreverent blog. More to come…
“…’cause my daddy treats me so well.”
We have some food that we eat that has peas in it and we always leave them. We should have lots of fortune, romance and luck. 😉
Oh, you guys, I’ll bet that has a hidden meaning, no?
Wow, your mom sure can cook. She’s no throw something between two slices of break chef like Jan. 🙂
Yeah, but Jan’s probably throwing really good things between two slices of bread!! Sunday Chicken Dinner, for example. With mayo….