Recipe: Blackeyed Pea Soup I

I thought it even better leftover!

Mr. Big Food notes, "I used veggies stock instead of chicken stock in the black-eyed pea soup and use ed cut up ham instead of ham hocks."

BLACK EYED PEA SOUP I

Serves 6-8

2 smoked ham hocks

5 C water

1 ½ C dried black-eyed peas

1 C onion, chopped

½ C celery, chopped

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

2/3 C evaporated milk

1 Tbsp flour

Place ham hocks in water in stock pot or Dutch oven, and simmer 45 minutes. Soak peas in warm water for 45 minutes, drain, and add peas, onion, celery, salt, and pepper to ham hocks. Boil, covered, over medium heat for 2 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove ham hocks and cool slightly. Remove meat from bones, discarding fat, rind, and bones. Shred meat and return to soup. Combine a small amount of the evaporated milk with flour to make a paste, and stir back into remaining milk until well blended. Add to soup, bring soup to a boil, and cook until soup thickens slightly.

Recipe: Jalapeno Black-Eyes (Veganizable)

I forgot to snap a photo of this dish. Sorry.

Mr. Big Food made some modifications to the recipe. He 1) substituted veggie stock for beef stock; 2) used 1 pound fresh (frozen from last year's garden!) black eyes so need to soak them, and 3) cut the amount of stock to 2 cups.

Served with vegan cornbread.

"Substituting veggie broth for beef makes this vegetarian and gives an interesting different flavor."

JALAPENO BLACK-EYES

1 lb dried black-eyed peas

5 C beef stock (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

4 large garlic cloves, minced

3 pickled jalapeno peppers, chopped fine (or an equivalent amount of sliced pickled jalapenos, also chopped fine) (preferably homemade—see recipes in Canning section)

2 bay leaves

1 Tbsp Greek seasoning

4 oz jar diced pimentos

Salt, pepper to taste

Tabasco

Corn muffins or cornbread (preferably homemade—see recipes in Quick Breads section)

Rinse black eyes and soak in water to cover by 3 inches overnight. Drain black eyes and return to same saucepan. Add broth, onions, garlic, jalapenos, bay leaves, and Greek seasoning and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until peas are tender and most liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally, about 1- 1 ½ hours. Mix pimentos into peas. Season with salt and pepper if desired, Serve with corn muffins or cornbread and Tabasco.

Recipe: Blackeyed Pea Hummus

We substituted chick peas... .

Southern goes Middle Eastern

BLACK EYED PEA HUMMUS

2 cups

1 15 oz can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed

2 Tbsp tahini

2 Tbsp olive oil

¼ C lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp cumin

½ tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp red pepper

3 Tbsp water

Additional olive oil, for topping (if desired)

Parsley, chopped fine (for tipping, if desired)

Process first 9 ingredients in a food processor until blended, stopping occasionally to scrape mixture down from sides. Gradually ad up to 3 Tbsp water until mixture is desired consistency. Cover and chill 1 hour. Drizzle olive oil over top and sprinkle with chopped parsley, if desired. Serve with Pita bread or crackers.

In case you are wondering...

it is simply impossible to shell blackeyed peas, make and hot water bath more relish (Christmas presents!), deal with aphid/ant infestations of okra, AND keep up with the world, AND blog at the same time. 

Can't be done. 

But wait! Impossible things are happening every day.

Impossible, for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage.
Impossible, for a plain country bumpkin and a prince to join in
Marriage,
And four white mice will never be four white horses!
Such fol-der-ol and fid-dle-dy dee of course, is--- Impossible!
But the world is full of zanies and fools
Who don't believe in sensible rules
And won't believe what sensible people say.
And because these daft and dewey-eyed dopes keep building up impossible
Hopes,
Impossible things are happening every day.

(Cinderella)
Impossible!

(Godmother)
Impossible!

(Cinderella)
Impossible!

(Godmother)
Impossible!

(Cinderella)
Impossible!

(Godmother)
Impossible!

(Both)
Impossible!

And pigs can fly!

What's the market value?

UNSHELLED blackeyed peas

I think I have more blackeyed peas than we can possibly eat in one year. (40'? What was I thinking?) 

I wonder what they are valued at on the open market, shelled? Certainly not what they'd be worth if you factored in my time. 

Which reminds me of something I came across the other day... . 

Blackeyed Peas: I Did as I Was Told

Thank goodness for The National Weather Service - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - United States Department of Commerce and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration - United States Department of Labor because I never would have figured any of this out all by my self. By the way, my name is Julia.

TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE.  WHEN POSSIBLE...RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO EARLY MORNING OR EVENING. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING WHEN POSSIBLE AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.

TO REDUCE RISK DURING OUTDOOR WORK THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS SCHEDULING FREQUENT REST BREAKS IN SHADED OR AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENTS.
ANYONE OVERCOME BY HEAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO A COOL AND SHADED LOCATION.HEAT STROKE IS AN EMERGENCY - CALL 9 1 1.

[My emphases]

Question. Why are these HEAT ADVISORY / SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT / HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOKS written in all caps that are very difficult to read? 

Anyway-- I did as the various Federal Government Agencies and Administrations told me to because that's the kind of citizen I am-- the kind who always does as I am told-- and picked the first harvest of blackeyed peas this morning instead of waiting until this afternoon when it is a bit on the warm side. I don't want Mr. Big Food to have to CALL 9  1 1, after all. And furthermore, I shelled them in an AIR CONDITIONED  ENVIRONMENT while DRINKING PLENTY OF WATER iced coffee.*

THREE Three varieties

Picking blackeyed peas-- 

which come from flowers like these--

is a potentially dangerous activity, even in the morning.

If you support me...

I can reach for the sky.

Context:

Inside the lives of some black-eyed peas

Green

Graceful

Glorious

Garden

Mississippi Silver

"The pods are silver-green and produced [sic] large, meaty, brown seeds."

Some seeds arrived yesterday! 

I'll be anxious to try these-- fresh blackeyed peas (cowpeas) are far superior to dried blackeyes, in my opinion. I don't even mind shelling peas and beans. It's a fine "idle hands" task-- gives me something constructive to do while I watch my stories.

Jó reggelt!

Good morning!

I love family traditions. My mother, who is not especially superstitious but who has no problem passing along superstitious traditions, taught me that the way in which one ends an old year and rings in a new year will be way in which one will end the new year and ring in a newer year. Thus, one needs to be full at the beginning of the year so one will be full at the end of the year. One needs to have money in one's pocket at the beginning so one will have money... . And of course, one needs to be in the company of loved ones.

Loved ones is easy, undoubtedly because Mom's whole system works so well! The money thing is fun because it doesn't have to be a lot of money. I've used silver dollars, silver certificate dollars, and just plain old money. It doesn't take much time to scrounge up a little bit of money-- again, because the system works. Duh. Being full, though, takes some work. 

To ensure that we don't end 2012 hungry, we will be cooking all day today. 

Seed sale

I got an email from New Hope Seed Company. They are having a sale!

I will order Aunt Hatie's red okra, whippoorwill blackeyes (cowpeas = blackeyed peas), and the hardshell melon seeds. I'll also pre-order one of those sweet potatoes.

The red okra is delicious and beautiful. Okra is related to hollyhock, rose of Sharon, and hibiscus. The flowers are gorgeous. The plant gets about 3-4' or more tall. You could plant okra in the back of a flower bed!

Fresh blackeyes are so good. Once established, the plants take care of themselves.

We had that hardshell melon this year. It was very good, although to be honest, I like this French melon better. But the hardshell melon is more resistant to critters.

Last year was the first I'd grown sweet potatoes. I was pretty ignorant about them then. I now know that once you have a crop, you no longer need to buy slips. This year, I wasn't paying attention and both of the varieties I planted, Nancy Hall and O'Henry, were white potatoes. Very tasty but not traditional. So I'll get some orange for next year. Sweet potatoes are so easy it grow.

A word about the tobacco: Cool. I grew tobacco once. I was ticked off that the busybodies in the fairly good sized sort of mid-Western city in which we lived had decided in their infinite wisdom to prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants. I knew the patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street belonged to the city (although I never saw anyone from the city mowing it). So I planted tobacco on city property. Take that! 

Tobacco is another plant that is beautiful as a plant, especially if you let it go to seed.