Black-Eyed Peas with pork jowl

 New Year's Day we just had to have the southern dish to celebrate the day. It is suppose to bring you good luck and prosperity. Black-eyed peas with hog jowl and greens.

It was a beautiful day, clear sky in the 70s...I think we were the warm spot in the country. My husband was out jet skiing, my daughter had a friend over and they were trying out her new mini bundt baking thing...it makes pretty little cakes. I'll show you how they turned out later.

For the black-eyed peas I had picked up some smoked pork jowl that they had in the New Year's display case at our local supermarket, along with the peas, and greens. I trimmed it, diced it and rendered the smoked jowl. Then added, celery, onions, and garlic (all diced and chopped nicely). About a pound of the black-eyed peas that were frozen instead of fresh this year. Then some chicken broth that I had in the freezer, enough to cover the peas about an inch. or so. Seasoned with some savory, bay leaf, and peri-peri sauce (from South Africa) I didn't need to salt it much because of the smoked jowl is a little salty, but you can salt and pepper to taste. Cook for an hour or two until everything is tender and the right thickness that you like.

The hog jowl is a lot like bacon and you can use this or ham hock in it's place. It was a nice buttery texture that melted in your mouth when the dish was all finished. Right near the end add the kale, or the greens that you have and cover until tender.

We went out to walk the beach while they were cooking. There was no wind and it was so comfortable, and it was so beautiful at sunset. We came back to enjoy our New Year's meal.

Just as good as I remember, and everyone cleaned their plate.

 Have a great New Year everyone!

Cranberry Beans, Sausage, and Kale

It was such a pleasure when I spotted these beautiful pink and white speckled beans at the local Amish market...and if you know me I just had to pick some up. While I have used fresh black eyed peas on New Year's Day, they were packaged in a shrink wrapped container and were pretty much ready to use. They are also called Shelly beans, and I did have to shell them myself, but I got a small amount so it was kinda fun to do. Easy enough to figure how to use these pretty beans as well. Just gently boil them until soft around 20-30 minutes.

I decided to try them while my husband was out of state driving his father home to Michigan, my daughter and I could make a meal of it. We were at Whole Foods and picked up some fresh Cuban sausage. I cooked the sausage with the beans first, then sauteed in a skillet.

With a little bit of my garlic Parmesan olive oil I cooked some shallots and garlic. (I didn't have any onions) add the sausage and brown it the way you like it.

Add the beans and some of the liquid used to cook the beans. You can also use any firm white bean if you can't find cranberry beans, like cannellini beans. I also added some fresh sage from my garden sliced or chopped finely.

Some organic kale we also picked up from Whole Foods was on sale. Wash it and tear it off from the tough ribs. You can probably add the kale and cook it down a bit before adding the cooked beans, but if you cooked the beans slightly under add the beans at the same time with the cooking liquid..and it will steam the kale nicely.


Sprinkle with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Top with some fresh grated cheese like Parmesan, I used asiago because that is what I had in hand. It didn't get in the photo though....

Served with rice because that is what my daughter wanted and it was a good meal for the both of us. This is definitely a meal you can make a little or a lot of. If you like it a little spicy you can add some red pepper flakes or use spicy sausage. I will make this again for sure...


...and next time I won't be in such a hurry to snap the photo...promise!

Hopefully this will be the last of the busy season on the beach until December when they all come back...it was even this busy at sunset at the beach that we can usually always find a place to park.

so we just walk out to the water and mosey on up the beach...

...until the crowd thins out and we see this...we did get asked to take a picture of some tourists from Maine visiting for Spring Break, they had the whole family here and they couldnt get over seeing the sun set over the water...they get the sunrise!


Enjoy your weekend...next I'll bring dessert!