Keeping It Simple: Black-Eyed Peas with Turkey Sausage

Hey Catherine, 

Grad school is taking up a fair bit of my time, so I've been trying to keep meals simple. For the past two weeks, one nicer meal has been made on Monday followed by our filler meals (roasted fish and veggies, usually) for the rest of the week. For my birthday, our brother got me a fantastic new cookbook: 6 Ingredient Solution by America's Test Kitchen. So far the two meals (an Italian meatloaf and enchilada casserole) I've made from it were pretty friggin' good. Their concept is simple: use fewer, more complex ingredients. That's not what they've said, but that's what I've decided. I'm waiting for colder weather to hit before I try out a butternut squash soup that's seasoned with (wait for it!)... a Chai tea bag. I'm still not over that clever idea and sorely want to see how it turns out. 

This Monday I decided to take simple a step farther with our cousins' (J&S) black-eyed pea recipe that they like to serve when the family gathers at the lake. Remember that recipe where I made a double batch of cornbread instead of a single and ended up freezing half? That frozen cornbread made it's debut too, and I must say, don't be afraid to freeze cornbread. I let it sit out on the counter to defrost and then microwaved it covered with a damp paper towel. Sure, it's not that fantastic fluffy cornbread with the crispy edges, but it works. Especially covered with honey. 

W and I have also switched to brown rice instead of white. It takes ~35 minutes to cook instead of 20, but it tastes better and is much better for you. By my reading, brown rice is magical stuff full of all of the things and white rice is crappy crap crap. That's my scientific outlook. But it fits into my new hope to incorporate more grains that are unrefined into our diets. Fewer tortillas, more wheat wraps. Wheat bread, not white. Same for rice. I even bought a "7 grain blend" at our local hippie-health food store (which has a large vitamin, supplement, and alternative medicine section that I glare at menacingly) to try for breakfast. More on that in another post, perhaps. 

Also served with dinner was leftover steamed brocolli (Monday) and sweet potato fries (Tuesday). I may have overly carbed Tuesday's meal, but I'm over it. In fact, I loved it. 


I hope school is going well, and it's almost your birthdaaaaaay! (Drink lots of water, okay? Two drinks. One water. Repeat. You'll thank me.)

Lurve,
Kimberly

P.S. I had my bedside lamp on my kitchen table, and my tripod and I stood on a chair for this shot. Nighttime shooting is not easiest. Or safest.

Black-Eyed Peas with Turkey Sausage

(when served over rice, about 6 servings)

8 oz black-eyed peas, dried
1 onion, cut into wedges
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp pepper
dash of salt
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb smoked turkey sausage, sliced

1. Rinse peas, picking out any rocks or suspicious looking objects. Soak overnight in enough water to cover by 2 inches.
2. Drain and rinse peas. In a crock-pot, combine peas, 4 cups of water, onion, jalapeno, pepper, salt, and olive oil. Cook on low for 4-8 hours or until desired texture. (Probably could cook at high for 2-4 hours. Haven't tried it.)
3. If you're serving with brown rice, start cooking that according to package directions 40 minutes before you want to serve dinner. 
4. About 20 minutes before serving time, sautee sliced sausage on medium/medium-high until it has browned on both sides. Add to the crock-pot.
5. Serve peas over rice with a nice slab of cornbread. 

Tips

- If you're not using the turkey sausage, add more salt to your beans. There's a pretty large amount in the sausages, so you just have to balance appropriately.

- I know you're a baby when it comes to spicy food, but I think one seeded jalapeno will be fine for you.

- The package recommended amount of water for this amount of peas was 3 cups. Since I was letting mine cook longer in the crock-pot (because I was away at work), I added an extra cup to keep things from drying out. Reduce water for reduced cook times, but don't go below the recommended amount.

- Instead of a crock-pot, you can get your ingredients boiling in an oven safe pot, then keep the covered pot in the oven at 250 F. 

- This is definitely something you could make at Dad's house, partition into one serving sized plastic baggies, and then keep frozen in your dorm fridge. I can't imagine it not reheating well.