New Year’s Good Luck with Black-Eyed Peas and Ham Soup

Happy New Year Everyone.  WOW!!!!  It’s 2019 already.  I hope everyone enjoyed their New Year’s Eve festivities.  We are big hockey fans, and our team is the Colorado Avalanche, so that’s where we celebrated last night.  It would have been more of a celebration had the Avalanche won, but it was still fun, even though they lost 2-3 in over time.  After the game, there was an indoor firework display which was pretty cool too.  Then we came home and just barely made it to midnight before crashing and saying good-bye to 2018.

As many of know, I have both Southern and Australian roots.  My mother was from South East Texas and my father was from Melbourne, Australia, then they moved out to Southern California, where I am originally from.  Now, I live in Colorado, and have been here or 19 years.  Colorado is where I call home, even though there is no ocean anywhere near-by.  Because of my mixed roots, I try to honor the traditions from all of these places as much as possible.  In the south, it is a New Year’s Tradition to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.  It is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity.  So, of course, I would like both and have to keep up with traditions.  It is not worth the risk of either bad luck or lack of prosperity to not follow the time-honored traditions of the South. This New Year’s Day, we are dining on black-eyed pea and ham soup with some Mediterranean Babka.  Cooking From A to Z.

Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Ham

1-1 1/2 lbs cooked ham, cubed

1 (1 lb bag of dried) black eyed-peas, or 3 cans

3 carrots, peeled and diced small

3 celery ribs, diced small

1 onion, diced small

1 TBSP garlic

8-10 cups of broth

1/2 cup tomatoes, halved

salt & pepper to taste

1 TBSP dried oregano

2 tsp of each dried thyme and dried marjoram

1-1 1/2 tsp allspice

olive oil

 

Cook the black-eyed peas according to the package directions.  I did a quick soak, then brought them to a boil in 8 cups of water and let them boil for 3 minutes.  After the 3 minute boil, I turned the heat off and let them rest for about 1-2 hours.

The ham I used was the left over ham from Christmas Eve.  Happy Holidays .  I made my own ham stock from the bone and used the meat that was still on the bone, as well as the rest of the meat we had already separated from the bone earlier.  You can also use either beef, chicken or vegetable stock too.

As the stock and the beans are cooking, dice your vegetables and ham.  Saute the vegetables in olive oil until the onions are translucent.

When the beans and vegetables are done, add the ham and the cooked beans to the vegetables and the seasonings into a large soup pot and mix together well.  Add the stock, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for at least an hour or until the beans are tender, stirring occasionally.

I added the tomatoes right at the end, just before serving.

Let’s ring in the New Year right, and bring on the good luck and prosperity.  The soup is on!