SUPER LUCKY 2024: BLACK EYED PEA BEANS STEW!
It's a tradition in my culture to eat tamales for the New Year, it says it brings good luck. This year of course my family and I did that, but I was looking into trying something new. That's when I discovered this stew recipe using our Rancho Gordo Super Lucky 2024 Black Eyed Peas.
What I love about working at The Wine Country is learning about other cultures and other traditions and reinventing recipes to work around the wonderful wines we carry. Our Wine Specialists are the best at what they do. They have the best noses and best taste buds in the business with a mission of bringing you great quality wines at great prices. Mass produced and mass marketed wines are out of the picture. And that's what makes us such a brilliant niche wine store.
I will be reaching my first year working at The Wine Country in March. And I'm still adjusting to what works in our food department and what doesn't work in the department, so some feedback would be great! I would love to bring all the items in that you all ask for, if possible, but for now I'm still studying the market and bringing in gourmet food items that I believe you'll enjoy.
Something new that I started growing an inkling for are home-cooked recipes with ingredients carried in our store. Not only is it great for business. But my goal is to create this little food nook into a one stop shop for recipes that you can create at home and pair with our delicious wines. For any of you that love to cook, what would you like to see in our food section this coming year? The new year is a time of innovation and change and my mission is to bring you the best quality unique ingredients that will elevate your dishes and pair beautifully with our wonderful selection of wines, spirits, and craft beer.
So with that being said this post is about a Southern New Year bean meant to bring in good luck for the year. People like to cook this on the actual New Years day, but because I already had my lucky 2024 tamales. I waited a little bit to create this recipe for the Super Lucky 2024 Black Eyed Peas. I hope you enjoy them and I hope it brings you all abundance and great fortune.
The symbolism for this Southern dish is quite beautiful too:
Beans- symbolize coins
Collard Greens and Other Mixed Greens- symbolizes money
Corn Bread- the color of it is a symbol for gold
Super Lucky 2024 Black Eyed Peas Stew with Kielbasa and Collard Greens Recipe:
Ingredients
- Olympia Kielbasa Sausage (sliced) ( $11.99 each sold at TWC)
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 2 small carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 white onions, chopped
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
- 1 pound of uncooked Rancho Gordo Super Lucky Black Eyed Peas 2024 ( make sure you prep the beans beforehand, read the back of the packaging for instructions)
- 2 bay leaves ( Rancho Gordo bay Laurel Leaves, $2.25 each)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons of Amore Sun-dried tomato paste ($7.89 each)
- ½ cup whole canned tomatoes with juice
- Collard greens
- White wine vinegar ( Cava Wine Vinegar, $14.49 each)
- 1/2 serrano pepper, minced ( without the seeds, or with seeds for additional heat)
- Put the kielbasa sausage in a small pot in medium-low heat, the kielbasa extracts a lot of oils and it cooks fast so keep a careful eye out. Then remove the kielbasa sausage and pat dry.
- Saute the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic and minced serrano with the oil that the Kielbasa sausage extracted, stirring occasionally for about 13-15 minutes. When they get soft throw in the uncooked black eyed peas and add enough water to cover the black eyed peas and vegetables by one inch. Stir and add the two bay leaves then raise the heat to a high and bring it to a rapid boil. Keep boiling for about 15 minutes, covering the pot partially. Add one tablespoon of salt. Add small splash of the Cava Wine Vinegar. Reduce to a gentle simmer for about 30-35 minutes to make sure that the peas are soft.
- Add the tomatoes and sun-dried tomato paste and the kielbasa sausage as well as the collard greens. Stir and then gently heat through for 15 minutes. Add pepper to taste.
Wine Pairings by Our Italian Wine Specialist Kevin Lepisto:
Lambrusco Rosé - Lini 910 Lambrusco Dell'Emilia Labrusca Rosé, Italy $15.99 each
Rioja - Cune Crianza 2020 $14.99 each
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo - Ca Del Moro Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Fantello, Italy $15.99 each