My Southern Black Eyed Peas with Collard Greens. S. tradition dictates that eating black eyed peas on New Year's will bring luck and good fortune. Often served with cabbage or collard greens (meant to represent that dolla dolla bill,. Add the chopped collard greens, vinegar and water and stir.
You can have My Southern Black Eyed Peas with Collard Greens using 11 ingredients and 6 steps. Here is how you cook that.
Ingredients of My Southern Black Eyed Peas with Collard Greens
- You need 14 oz of cooked organic black eyed peas.
- It’s 1 tbsp of olive oil.
- Prepare 4 cloves of galric minced.
- Prepare 1 of medium yellow onion, chopped.
- You need 1 tsp of salt.
- You need 1 tbsp of brown sugar.
- It’s 1 of bay leaf.
- You need 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar.
- You need 1/2 cup of water.
- You need 2 strips of applewood smoked bacon or 1 tbsp olive oil for vegan.
- It’s 1 of large bunch collard greens chopped into strips (about 5 cups.).
I have loaded the peas and greens with leftover ham chunks in order to heighten the flavor even more. You could use a ham hock, alternately, or cooked bacon along with bacon fat. Black-eyed peas and collard greens are a New Year's Day staple in the American South, where the peas represent coins and the greens represent paper money. As the saying goes, "Eat poor on New Year's, and eat fat the rest of the year." Place the black-eyed peas in a large saucepan, cover with water by two inches, bring to a boil and then drain.
My Southern Black Eyed Peas with Collard Greens step by step
In a large pot with a lid, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, salt and bay leaf and stir for 3 minutes. Take bay leaf out..
Add the chopped collard greens, vinegar and water and stir. It's possible that all of your greens wont fit in the pot, so add a few handfuls at a time as they wilt..
Then add the peas. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, checking occasionally and adding more water as necessary..
In a separate pan, cook the bacon over medium high heat until crispy. Remove the bacon and reserve for another use and add the onions to the pan. (I used bacon bits this time.) Came out delicious..
Cook the onions in the bacon grease for about 5 minutes or until just translucent. If you used bacon bits just throw the bacon bits and onion in the pot with the greens..
When the greens are cooked to your liking add the brown sugar, stir until combined and serve..
Combine with half the onion and one of the garlic cloves in the saucepan. It's a Southern tradition to eat black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year's Day for good luck in the new year. And more specifically, the superstition is that eating collard greens on New Year's Day will bring you dollar bills and eating black-eyed peas will bring you cents throughout the upcoming year. According to legendary Southern food researcher John Egerton's Southern Food: At Home, On the Road, In History, black-eyed peas are associated with a "mystical and mythical power to bring good luck." As for collard greens, they're green like money and will ensure you a financially prosperous new year. And isn't that all what we want anyway?
