It’s important that you eat black eyed peas and greens on New Year’s Day, especially if you’re a typically superstitious Southerner, whether native or imported. Black eyed peas are well-known to ensure good luck for the coming year, and greens of any kind are for either wealth or health, depending on whom you ask. Just in case greens only ensure health, I’ve added another food that traditionally boosts prosperity–sliced smoked sausage. Slicing smoked sausage makes lots of little round pieces, and round foods favor prosperity because they look like coins. Obviously, the more coins in your soup, the better.
Some people prefer collards or turnip greens over cabbage at New Year’s, and that’s fine for them. Go ahead and substitute if you like, but I don’t know how that will impact the cooking time, because I’ve never cooked collards or turnip greens in my life. I’m simply not that kind of cooked greens girl, despite my parents’ best efforts. Cabbage, though, is traditional in the South and a different story altogether. I really like cooked cabbage, and I dearly love it in soup. Simmering cabbage in soup does something weird and wonderful; it adds a lovely vegetal, non-starchy sweetness that nothing else matches. Don’t use red cabbage or your soup will be a strange shade of purpley-blue and not particularly appetizing. Interesting yes, but not a good look for soup you plan to eat, much less serve to others.
This recipe calls for two cans of seasoned black eyed peas. I used Margaret Holmes™ Seasoned Black Eyed Peas, which are my favorite, but a number of other brands offer seasoned black eyed peas, or at least black eyed peas cooked with pork. I’ve used many of them, and happily, I’ve never run into a bad can of seasoned black eyed peas. They may all be a little different, but you can adjust the seasoning to your liking in any case. Use what’s handy.
Clearly I’ve used Conecuh Sausage here, again. (I think they owe me a Christmas card next year at least.) Of course, your favorite smoked sausage will be lovely. Make cornbread. Cornbread also brings wealth for the year ahead. You know why? Because corn–and therefore cornbread–is yellow, like gold. I figure that means white corn is white-ish, like platinum. Feel free to make your cornbread ahead of time from a mix, and reheat it if you want. Who will know? Or care? Actually you can make the soup a couple of days ahead too, and it will be even better. You’re welcome.
Happy New Year! OXOXOX!
Black Eyed Pea and Cabbage Soup
Ingredients
- 2 T. olive oil
- 1 lb. smoked sausage, cut into 1/2" rounds
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 1/2 head green cabbage, cored and chopped
- 2 quarts chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 1 can tomatoes and green chilies, undrained
- 2 cans seasoned black eyed peas, drained
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add oil to a soup pot. Brown the sausage in the oil, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Add onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring, until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the cabbage and stir for a minute or two. Add the stock and the tomatoes. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
- Return the sausage to the pot and add the black eyed peas. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as necessary. Serve. Makes 2 ½ quarts.
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