Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Blackeye Pea Salsa Soup

 Well I am from the south and I had good intentions of having blackeye peas and hog jowl for New Year's.

Why? I don't know. I have never done that before in my life although I come from a family that does. I seriously don't think I have ever had blackeye peas before.

Needless to say I didn't do the whole blackeye peas and hog jowl thing on New Year's. (I got this great invite from friends to have dinner at their house on New Year's so that got me off of my kick real quick!)

So, I had this can of blackeye peas sitting in my cupboard, along with some hog jowl in the fridge. (My husband kept opening the fridge and gravitating towards it, always asking "and what is this? It's like bacon?" It was the meat eater coming out in him, he could smell the salty pork a mile away, I swear! I think he was almost in withdrawals from Country Ham at Christmas time)

Anyways, so then I continue to think about my blackeye peas and hog jowl, and then I keep thinking about soup because it is so cold outside. And all this keeps swirling in my head like the tornado scene from Wizard of Oz. (scary being inside my head isn't it?!)

So, finally I just get out my blackeye peas and hog jowl and start cooking and end up with this wonderful soup!




Blackeye Pea Salsa Soup

Ingredients
2 cans of blackeye peas
7-9 pieces of hog jowl bacon, skinless
1 medium onion, chopped
1 C. water
⅓ to ¼ C. tomato diced
⅛ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. dried basil
⅛ tsp. dried cilantro
1 tsp. vinegar
pepperonci, chopped, optional for garnish


Directions

Fry bacon in pan until brown.


Saute onion in bacon grease for a few minutes,until tender.


Cut up bacon in to small pieces.


Pour blackeye peas in medium saucepan. Add bacon, sauted onion, diced tomato, black pepper, oregano, basil, cilantro, water, and vinegar to peas and heat on medium to low heat. Let come to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 min.




Remove from heat and gently mash some of the peas to thicken up soup as desired.


Serve, adding pepperonci chopped if desired and if you like a little heat!


I am not sure why there is this division of people who either love blackeye peas or hate them. I loved them. I don't know if it was all the bacon grease or what, but I didn't have any kind of dislike of the blackeye peas. My husband suprisingly ate two bowls at one sitting, and my husband is not a soup kind of guy, at all! I don't know if it was the meat that was a seller for him or the combination of spices, but he really liked this soup.

So, if you have some leftover blackeye peas or just want a great hearty soup please give this a try and let me know how you like them.


Come join Soup-a-Palooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by Bush’s Beans, Hip Hostess, Pillsbury and Westminster Crackers.

I did!!

Tidy Mom

 

Until Next Time,
Happy Cooking,

Lynn






2 comments:

  1. Nicole: No problem, I enjoy your blog. I would gladly give a shout out anytime!

    ReplyDelete