Those Black Eye Peas They Tasted All Right To Me.... ;-)

There are just certain songs that stick in my head at the weirdest moments. Like Goodbye Earl while I'm making Blackeye Peas for New Years Day.

This was, of course, my first attempt at making blackeye peas. All previous times I've eaten them involved restaurants that serve steaks the size of large plates and deep fried pickles. Usually blackeye peas are somewhat bland, resembling something akin to cardboard. However it was New Years Day and I was already feeling like making something for dinner at home, so I did an internet search. This is the highest rated recipe that came up on the first page of google. Hrm...interesting...so of course I modified it.

The modified recipe follows, but bear in mind at it's base it's still the allrecipes recipe. I believe the modifications make this a far more awesome recipe. Far from flavorless, just the right amount of spicy, and more than nomtastic. :-) I've been enjoying the leftovers.

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry black eye peas
• Approx. 1 pound pre-cooked ham steaks (I used 2 at about 0.5 lbs each), cut into quarter inch cubes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 medium sweet onion, finely diced
• 1 (14.5 oz) can of crushed red tomatoes
• 4 Hatch peppers, roasted, skinned, seeded and diced*

Instructions
Place the peas in an 8 quart sauce pot and add enough water to fill the pot about half to three quarters full. Add everything else to the pot and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat, covered, 2 1/2 to 3 hours until the peas are soft.


* If you don't have a stash of frozen roasted and skinned Hatch peppers like we do, you can substitute Anaheim pepper or jalapenos, if you want extra heat. Roast the peppers over the flame of a gas stove or under the broiler of an electric oven, turning as the skin blackens, until all sides of the pepper are roasted. Then put the peppers in a paper bag to steam 5-10 min, until cool enough to handle with bare hands. Scrape the blackened skin off the peppers and discard. Then slice each pepper lengthwise and chop off the stem. Scrape the seeds and veins out with a knife blade. Then dice the peppers and add them the recipe above.

Image source (found via google image search).