Blacked Eyed Peas and Hamhocks

If you do not already have a deep and passionate love affair with Black Eyed Peas, then you are truly missing out. Hide yo kids, hide yo wife, and hide yo husbands too because if you whip up this recipe you will cheat on all of them.

I swear before the Living God himself.

Lawd Jesus!

Not only are black eyed peas good for you, they bring you luck (in both Black and white Southern traditions but for extremely different reasons), but you will discover that on their own with nothing but a touch of salt added they make their own delicious broth that is lovely....add a few extra ingredients and you will have a lover that will always leave you satisfied and begging for more.

Black Eyed Peas and Hamhocks

1lb bag of black eyed peas
2-3 hamhocks
1 jalapeno
1/2 medium red onion diced
2 cloves of garlic diced
1/3 cup cilantro diced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp Adobo seasoning
1/2 cup minced basil
1 tbsp dried/fresh rosemary

In a large pot combine all ingredients and fill the pot with water until ingredients covered and just shy of a 1/2 inch to inch below the rim. Bring the contents to the a boil and reduce heat to medium high. Watch the pot and stir occasionally and add water to make sure that the ingredients stay covered. Cook for about three to four hours, covering occasionally as well to help speed the process.  Once the beans are soft to the fork and the fat has been rendered from the ham hocks serve with rice. Black eyed peas are one of the only beans that you do not have to soak overnight, which makes them oh so lovely.

A single pot of black eyed peas with hamhocks over jasmine rice will feed a family of four, for several servings, for less than $8. Add your favorite extra to it (fried pork chops, smothered chicken, etc.) and you have a feast fit for a Southern belle.

Hell's Kitchen Collard Greens

Last night, I served up a mess of collard greens at my pal Norman's Easter dinner. It was a great crowd...including a Jew, a half Lebanese girl, a Russian gal straight from the gulag and shit, a Malaysian, a me, and a Southerner. It was all diverse and stuff.

Most of the folks in the room had never had greens before (let alone hamhocks). By the end of the night all that remained in the bowl was the skin of one of the hamhocks and there were calls for my recipe. Here it is.

This recipe will cook roughly a half stock pot full once full cooked and boiled down. It will comfortably feed four to six.

Brandon's Hell's Kitchen Collards

4 to 6 bunches of collard greens
1 red onion
1 to 2 jalapenos
Crushed red pepper
3 to 5 garlic cloves
4 smoked hamhocks or smoked turkey necks
salt
black pepper
oregano (dried)

Cooking instructions:

Wash the collard greens and make sure there is no dirt and grit on them. Then, peel the leaf off the stock and away from the center stem. Discard the stalk and stem and set the leafy greens in your stock pot.

Once you have cleaned the greens and placed them in the pot, get your hands way down in there and tear the leaves into smaller pieces.

Add the hamhocks to the pot.

Dice the onion and garlic and jalapenos and place those in the pot as well.

Fill the pot with water leaving about an inch of room at the top of the pot. Then sprinkle in the salt, pepper, dried oregano, and crushed red pepper. If you like your greens hot...use more pepper...if not...use less. Same goes for the jalapeno.

Turn the greens on medium high heat and bring to a low boil. Cover them bad boys up and then let 'em percolate for the next four to six hours. The longer you let them cook, the better the flavor...when you taste the greens...and they melt like butter on your tongue...they are done man. If you are in a hurry, you can eat 'em after about four hours cooking time.

You can do all of this in a crock pot as well.

Also, from time to time add water to the pot--make sure the greens are always covered...and stir occassionally to make sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.

For good luck, make you some black eyed peas and rice and serve 'em up with the greens.

And there you have...when folks smack their lips together and are rubbin' their bellies...tell 'em Brandon sent ya.

(PS Using smoked turkey necks will take away none of the flavor--though the flavor will be slightly different--but it will cut down on the amount of fat in the dish. Both items are comparably priced.)

The cost of this meal is roughly $10-$12. If you use organic collard greens, the cost of the meal rises to about $20. I say....use conventionally grown collards and make sure you wash them well. It cuts the cost by a half to a third.