black eye pea soup
I make black eye pea soup a couple different ways. It's a flexible recipe that is easy to make, and one of my personal favorites. The basic recipe is below.
The soup in the picture had barley and mushrooms in it. Barley takes a while to cook, so if you're going to add it in keep that time requirement in mind. If you don't like your vegetables/ingredients extra well cooked, you'll want to add the barley in early, perhaps cook it with the black eye peas.
I usually make this soup with a leftover ham bone or part of some pork roast, shoulder, etc cut for the meat. I like to have a bone in there simmering. Don't use ham from a honey ham. The flavor does not work with soups.
1 package black eye peas
3 - 4 carrots
3 - 4 celery stalks including leaves
1 large Russet potato
1/4 large yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
1 package sliced white mushrooms (optional)
barley (optional)
salt
pepper
chicken bouillon
sage
thyme
basil
rosemary
bay leaves
water
pork meat - a leftover ham bone with some meat still attached or any cut of pork roast meat
1. Pour a generous amount of water in a pot and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Toss in a package of black eye peas and bring it to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for approximately 2 hours, or until the peas are soft.
2. Chop up the carrots, celery, potato, and slice the mushrooms. Reserve the celery leaves and mince them as well. If needed, remove any excess fat from the meat cut being used. The meat can be cut at this point into bite size pieces or you can do it later. Mince the garlic.
3. When the peas are done drain them and discard the cooking water. Return them to the pot. Put the pork and vegetables in. Add in a generous amount of water. The amount of water you add at this point is going to be the amount of liquid in the finished batch. You want to add in enough so that all of the ingredients will be able to cook easily with sufficient room.
4. Add the spices, excluding the bouillon. Go easy on the salt, and add only a bit of basil and a little more of the rosemary. The spices I'm generous with are the thyme, sage, and pepper. Bring the pot to a boil over medium-high heat and then lower the heat to medium-low for the soup to simmer for 30 minutes, or until the desired level of done-ness for the vegetables is reached. If needed, remove the meat and let it cool slightly before chopping into bite size pieces. Return to the pot. If there is a bone, return it to the pot as well to add savor.
5. Add the chicken bouillon. Taste test and adjust your spices as desired. Stir the soup well and remove it from the heat.
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