We’ve been getting our CSA shares every other week and the produce has been better than I could have hoped for. I’ve made garden fresh ratatouille, had the most flavorful arugula, and tomatoes that just melt in my mouth.
Sometimes the CSA produce we get pushes me to learn something new, as did the bag of shelled, fresh black eyed peas. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them and internet searches didn’t yield much information. The best information I found was a comment somewhere that fresh beans can take longer to cook than dried beans.
So, I set off to cook these beans with my fingers crossed that Joe would have something that at least resembled dinner.
They were so good that I was almost full from ‘tasting’ them so I could ‘adjust the seasoning if necessary’ before Joe got home from work. The difference between dried and fresh beans is like the difference between dried and fresh blueberries. There’s no comparison.
Not only do they taste fresh but they’re not as starchy. This also means that the broth isn’t as thick – at least mine wasn’t. No worries, though. I strained the beans, put the broth back in my CrockPot, mashed a few serving spoons full of beans into the broth, cranked it up to high, and let it simmer with the lid off until the broth reduced a bit.
Where to get fresh beans?
Sources tell me that you can find them at the Farmer’s Markets and some specialty food stores in the summer. I haven’t seen any at the stores yet. If you’ve spotted some, I’d love to know where.
We pick up our next CSA share on Saturday…keeping my fingers crossed for more fresh black-eyed peas.
For other great summer produce recipes visit:
- Lamb Stuffed 8 Ball Squash from Tasty Eats at Home
- Lemony Green Beans from Kalyn’s Kitchen
- Sweet & Spicy Cherry Salsa from Aubree Cherie
- Raw Kale Salad from Healthy Green Kitchen
- Fruit Smoothie Popsicles from Modern Comfort Food
Reminder…
Win a copy of Diane Eblin’s new e-book, The Gluten-Free Diner. It’s filled with dairy-free, gluten-free recipes for the entire family. Enter here!
This is linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays.
Have you cooked anything new lately?
Ingredients
- 1 – 2 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch strips
- 1/2 medium onion, sliced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced on a microplane
- 1 1/2 medium tomatoes, peeled & diced
- 2 cups fresh, shelled black eyed peas
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a medium, nonstick pan over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crispy. Drain on a paper towel, scraping as much grease from the pan as you can. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onion into the pan and sautee until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant. Scrape into a 4 quart Crock-Pot.
- Add bacon, tomatoes, black eyed peas, and chicken stock to Crock Pot. Cover and cook on high for 4 – 6 hours or until beans are tender. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. (I didn’t add any salt – it was salty enough for me with the chicken stock and bacon.)
- If broth is too thin for your liking, drain cooked beans and put broth back into CrockPot. Cover, with heat on high, until broth starts to simmer. Uncover and let simmer until desired consistency is reached. Add beans back in, heat through, and serve.
crockpot recipe
posted on July 14, 2010 at 4:28 am
I love crockpot recipes, I really find them very heartwarming! I can see how my kids enjoy dinner, hubby even can’t help giving a thumbs up every now and then. And to think that it’s just a one or two-step dish, plug it, and then off you go to attend to your other things to do for the day. Then come dinner time, and you can enjoy it with the rest of the family. You can’t possibly top that,
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Kim @ Cook IT Allergy Free
posted on July 14, 2010 at 10:03 am
We LOVE cooking fresh beans as well here! The difference is amazing between the canned and fresh. This recipe sounds so so good! My boys would devour this one (they love anything that combines beans and bacon).
Will have to make this when we get our fresh beans from our friends farm this year!
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Maggie Savage
posted on July 14, 2010 at 11:38 am
Fresh beans! You are so lucky Amy. I have never had fresh beans and would love to try some. I usually cook dried beans and they’re so much better than canned. I can only imagine how yummy fresh beans would be. Now I’ll be on the lookout. Thanks!
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Suzanne Collier
posted on July 14, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Wow, I love black-eyed peas. Now, some of my relatives from Ohio wouldn’t eat them because they had only seen them used for livestock feed. What?!?!?! Black-eyed peas are too good to waste on a pig! These look delicious! I’m going to have to make some of Barbara’s Green Chile Cilantro Cornbread to go with them. Can’t think of a better comfort food meal!
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Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen
posted on July 14, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Wow! I have never had fresh black eyed peas! Sounds wonderful! I love what you did with them!
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Regina
posted on July 14, 2010 at 1:08 pm
This sounds wonderful. Our peas should be ready soon. I can’t wait to have fresh peas but will also be canning many quarts. I’ll have to save this page so that I can try this with canned peas this winter. I think I can drain the liquid and warm them on top of the stove with the tomatoes and chicken broth. Thanks for sharing.
Regina
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Kalynskitchen
posted on July 14, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I haven’t had fresh black-eyed peas, but this sounds good!
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Mysti
posted on July 14, 2010 at 8:51 pm
mmm..i love black eyed peas and havent had them in way too long. I love that this is a crockpot recipe too!
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Aubree Cherie
posted on July 15, 2010 at 8:04 pm
This looks tasty Amy! I love the addition of bacon, I bet it adds a lot of nice flavor and texture (I wouldn’t have thought to do that!)
Thanks for the cherry salsa shout out too! Means a lot
~Aubree Cherie
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Alta
posted on July 17, 2010 at 7:50 am
I never thought I liked blackeyed peas until I discovered fresh. (There’s an elderly gentleman down the street from me that grows them) There’s no comparison – you’re right. I love that you added tomatoes. Otherwise, your recipe is very similar to how I make mine. I don’t add tomatoes (but will try next time for sure) but I tend to add a jalapeno or two for kick. It’s almost 8am this morning and this looks like a great breakfast (alongside a fried egg or two) to me!
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Amy Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
@Alta, You always think of ways to improve on everything…I would have never thought to add fried eggs but the idea makes my mouth water.
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Alta Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:37 am
@Amy, By the way, I tested out this fried egg theory on my cream peas I got from the most recent CSA share. Pretty darned delicious! Especially if you like your fried eggs over easy or sunny side up…just top those beans with the egg, and let that yolk “dress” them. Yum. Also, for all those people that don’t have access to fresh blackeyed peas, I’ve seen frozen ones at grocery stores – even WalMart! You might also come across purple hull peas or cream peas – all very similar. The frozen are nearly as tasty as fresh. I’ll never go back to dried as long as I can have these.
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Amy Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:11 pm
@Alta, I actually think those are purple hull peas and not black eyed…Joe picked up our CSA share that week so I didn’t get to talk to Penny. I have the cream peas from our CSA in my slow cooker right now for dinner. Love your fried egg! We might have to do that tonight instead of chicken.
renee
posted on July 18, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Amy – I found black eyed peas at our farmer’s market this morning and remembered your post. I will be making this later this week when my in-laws are here – my MIL is a southern gal and introduced me to black eyed peas originally. Unfortunately mine weren’t shelled but I will have help for this. Since my husband is veggie, I might add either soy chorizo or some liquid smoke to this to get some more flavor, instead of the bacon, although I have been craving bacon for BLT’s. Thanks for the inspiration!
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Amy Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
@renee, Sounds so good!!! I got some more okra & peas (a different kind…) from my CSA on Saturday and am planning to make that again. It was so very good.
Love the vegetarian variations…shows that we can eat good food regardless of our needs.
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Alta Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:38 am
@Amy, Renee – smoked paprika does wonders for bumping up that smoky flavor in a vegetarian version. I’ve done this in split pea soup instead of ham. Happy cooking!
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Linda
posted on July 23, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Bacon is great for adding flavor. Thanks for linking up this week!
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me
posted on July 24, 2010 at 1:01 pm
i haven’t been able to locate bacon without sugar in it. thoughts?
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Amy Reply:
July 30th, 2010 at 11:48 am
@me, Most bacon is cured with sugar. I don’t eat bacon by itself but I don’t have any problems at all when I use it to flavor a dish. I often use prosciutto instead of bacon but didn’t have any on hand when I made this and didn’t feel like driving to the store.
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Elaine Locke
posted on May 14, 2012 at 12:59 pm
This is a great recipe! I stumbled on it Saturday, and I had already purchased the peas from the Coppell Farmer’s Market. They usually have fresh peas, so I can see making this a lot. It would also be easy to mix up the add ins to vary the taste.
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