Happy New Year - I hope you ate your peas

Hello there. Welcome to food party. Here I will blog recipes for your information and your enjoyment (I hope).

It's a bit of a new years resolution to catalog recipes as I prepare them. I figured a good way to start is with a traditional New Years Day dish - Black Eyed Peas.

I made one of my first black eyed pea dishes this new years and I got excellent reviews from my guests and I really enjoyed them. Here goes:

ingredients:
11 oz package fresh black eyed peas (you could get frozen or dried...but it's worth it to get fresh, I promise)
2-3 strips bacon
1 green bell pepper
1 large onion
3-4 cloves garlic
2-3 stalks celery
3 cups chicken broth
1-2 TBL tomato paste
2-3 TBL fresh parsley
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (only if you like spicy)
1 tsp paprika
salt and pepper

First step (same as many of my soups or stews) is to cut the bacon into 1/2" pieces. This will help it brown faster and it's easier to stir. Put this in a dutch oven (big pot) and turn the heat to medium-high.

Secondly, go ahead and put the peas into some water and cook as directed on the package (since you took my advice and you're using fresh, you don't have to soak over night or defrost or anything).

Dice the onion, pepper, and celery into whatever size you want in the soup. Congratulations, you've just made the cajun trinity.

Once the bacon is crispy take it out of the pan but leave all that bacon-juice goodness in the bottom. Put the trinity (remember, that's onion, celery, and peppers) into the bacon fat with a little bit of salt so the veggies can sweat. after about 6 or 7 minutes, add the chopped garlic. this will burn in about a minute, so be ready for the next step.

Now that you have all your veggies and bacon goodness in the pot, you want to add the tomato paste. After you add the paste, you should stir regularly for about 5-10 minutes. The tomato paste should change from bright red to brick red.

After I cooked the peas as instructed on the package they were still a little underdone. I drained them and cooked them the rest of the way in the broth. Which brings us to our next step. Add peas, chicken broth, cayenne pepper, black pepper, paprika, and parsley and cook for about 10-15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, sprinkle the pieces of bacon over the top of a bowl of soup. If you still crave spice, I recommend adding some tabasco over the top as well.

When you eat you'll bite into the bean and it will be creamy and wonderful (because you used fresh beans, remember?) and the flavorful broth will cover your entire palette. After each bite you'll be hit with spice that will wake you up and make you want another bite!

Black-eyed peas (when consumed on the 1st) are said to bring you prosperity for the rest of the year. While I wish we could all be prosperous by eating some magical beans, for now I'll be satisfied with a delicious meal that can be enjoyed on any chilly day of the year, not just the first of January.

Happy New Year,
Levi