The first recipe post of 2021 has to include the traditional black-eyed pea. According to the internet (and I did have to go look it up to be certain), although eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s is a southern tradition to ensure prosperity for the coming year, this has been considered good luck by various groups for at least 1,500 years. So, who am I to buck tradition? What I can do, however, is try to make my black-eyed peas a little more interesting than usual.

This recipe came about, as many of mine do, by accident. I had planned to make my Spicy Bean Soup and found that I didn’t have any Navy beans. I substituted black-eyed peas and my husband informed me that he actually like those better. My head started spinning with ideas and, voila, Creole Black-Eyed Pea Soup was born.

Note in the photos that I’m using a couple of treasured Christmas gifts to serve my New Year’s Day soup. My beautiful pottery bowl comes from the talented hands of the artisans at Stone-Penland Pottery. (I highly recommend their products!) The cutting board was a gift from my husband and came from Hailey Home.

INGREDIENTS:

1 small yellow onion, finely diced
1 small green bell pepper, finely diced
2 small red bell pepper, finely diced
4 stalks celery, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons creole seasoning (I used Tony Chachere, but use your favorite)
12 ounces turkey smoked sausage, cut into bite size pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cans black-eyed peas
1 can Rotel tomatoes

INSTRUCTIONS:

Place a dutch oven or heavy bottom soup pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil. When oil is heated, add the onion, green and red bell pepper and celery. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes. be careful not to burn the garlic.

Add the turkey sausage and continue to cook until the vegetables are soft and the sausage has heated. Add the cans of black-eyes peas, the Rotel tomatoes and the creole seasoning.

Continue to simmer for about 30 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Taste and add more creole seasoning if you wish.