Rhea Yablon Kennedy

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ large or 1 small onion, diced
  • a few cloves garlic, minced
  • ¾ cup dried black-eyed peas, picked over for stones and aliens
  • Enough water to cover the peas and then some
  • A few inches of kombu seaweed (optional)
  • 1 handful sorrel leaves, coarsely chopped
  • Salt, to taste

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan on med-high. When hot, add onions. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occassionally, then add the garlic and stir again for about 30 seconds. Add the peas, water to cover the beans plus another ½ to 1″, and the kombu.

  2. Cover and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water to keep the water level about ½ to 1″ above the roiling stew. Oh, add the salt somewhere in there, preferably when the beans are getting soft and not before. Check the beans for doneness and cook more if necessary. Adjust salt and add other seasonings if you so desire. Add the sorrel and simmer another 2 minutes, then remove from heat.

  3. As far as the kombu goes, when the stew is done, I recommend fishing it out and then either chopping it up and throwing it back in or eating it right then and there. You can also throw it away. At that point, it’s done its job of adding flavor to the beans and making them more digestible, but I think there’s still more life to it.

  4. That’s all, folks! Enjoy this stew over rice or just dig in with a spoon. I predict you’ll feel very Southern.