Southern Black-Eyed Peas

TxBluebonnet's Note:

I love black-eyed peas! I'd much rather have fresh peas than dried, but I'll take them anyway I can get them. I don't remember where I found this recipe, but I really like it. The original recipe used salt pork, but I use bacon. Give me a bowl of these peas, a dash of Tabasco, a slab of hot-from-the-oven cornbread, some green onions and tomato slices then stand out of the way!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 4 cups fresh or frozen black-eyed peas
• 4 -5 slices bacon
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1. In a 5 quart Dutch oven, cook bacon until crisp; set aside to drain on paper towels.
2. Cook onion, celery and garlic in bacon drippings until tender; add broth, salt, pepper and peas. Bring to a boil and skim top if necessary.
3. Lower heat to simmer; crumble bacon and add to peas.
4. Adjust seasonings to taste, cover and simmer until peas are tender (30 minutes to 1 hour depending on how tender you like them).

Reviews

[Candy C]

Love the chicken broth! I've always used water like my mom did, but never again. Skipped the celery because I didn't have any, used spiral sliced ham instead of bacon, and a one pound bag of dried peas not pre-soaked. Cooked covered for 4 hours - perfect!

[Rhondapalooza]

Excellent! I used dried beans that I'd pre-soaked and I simmered them for 2.5 hours. (I like my BEP's consistency a bit more done and mushy... everyone's mileage varies.) I loved the chicken broth in place of water and I also chopped up a half cup of pickled jalapenos and tossed those in the pot for some added heat and flavor. Very good!

[LittleJo]

Turned out perfect. Used salt pork instead of bacon, but did everything else the same. Dee-Lish! Thanks for your submission.