Black Eye Pea Cakes, Corn Waffles and Greens

When this Yankee gal married a born and raised Southern boy, our culinary norms collided. Growing up on Long Island, I was raised eating a lot of Italian food, bagels, deli sandwiches, and of course, the German food of my ancestors. When my family moved to Ohio, there were a few Cincinnati-specific foods we were introduced to, but no specific Mid-west specialties. However, when I went to school in North Carolina and met JJ, I was introduced to a world of new dishes. That's not to say people don't eat this food in the Northeast or Mid-west, but it didn't seem as prevalent growing up there.

When I started to pay more attention to the Food Network and read cooking magazines in college, I mentioned the tradition of collards and black eyed peas at New Years to JJ, and he looked at me like I was just realizing the sky is blue. So since then, I've made it a tradition to make these dishes on New Years Day. Usually I just throw the beans in a crockpot with garlic, onions and vegetable stock, but when I saw this dish on Joanne's blog, it seemed like a fun new way to enjoy the traditional food. We received kale in the CSA, so I used that instead of collard greens, and I guess it was a big mistake because on January 2, I had to drop a few hundred on car maintenance. At least it still tasted good! If you haven't had your black eye peas and collards yet in 2013, I insist you do it now, with this dish!

Black Eyed Pea Cakes with Collard Greens and Corn Waffles

BEPs and Greens adapted from Eats Well With Others and Cooking Light

Corn Waffles adapted from Food.com

Greens:

1 tsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 large bunch of collard greens or kale, chopped (12 oz.)

2 c. vegetable stock

1/2 orange or red bell pepper, diced

1 tbsp. cider vinegar

1 tsp. honey

Pinch of salt

Black Eye Pea Cakes:

1 tsp. olive oil

1 small yellow onion, minced

1/2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

1 garlic clove, minced

2 1/2 c. black eyed peas, drained and rinsed (I used dry, canned is fine)

1/4 c. bread crumbs

2 tsp. dijon mustard

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 egg

1/4 c. cornmeal

Fresh ground black pepper and Kosher Salt

Corn Waffles:

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

3/4 c. fine corn meal

2 tbsp. light brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 eggs

1/4 c. canola oil

1 3/4 c. milk

1/2 c. frozen corn kernels

To prepare greens:

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat.

Add onion and garlic, saute' until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add greens, vegetable broth, bell pepper, cider vinegar, honey and salt, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes, until greens are tender. Stir occasionally. 

To prepare BEP cakes:

Preheat oven to 400*

Heat olive oil in a large saute' pan over medium heat. 

Add onion and garlic, saute' 5 minutes, until garlic is golden.

Add onions and garlic, thyme, HALF of the BEPs, breadcrumbs, mustard, cayenne, salt and pepper to a food processor, pulse until blended, add the egg and pulse again.

Add to a bowl with the remaining BEPs, stir well until combined. 

Place cornmeal in a shallow dish.

Divide into 8 cakes, dredge in cornmeal, then place on a lined baking sheet.

Bake cakes for 20 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10, until crisp and browned.

To prepare waffles:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and milk.

Add baking powder, sugar and salt, whisk again.

Add flour, cornmeal and corn, using a spatula, fold until mixture is incorporated.

Heat a waffle iron over medium heat.

Spray with nonstick cooking spray, and ladle batter onto waffle iron.

Cook until waffles are puffed and release.

Tex-Mex Black Eyed Pea Dip

For Superbowl Sunday, we were invited to a family get together that was pot luck style. I signed up to make an appetizer and dessert weeks ago, and figured I'd decide what to make closer to the date. A few weeks later, I had a strange craving for Black Eyed Peas, so I bought a pound of dried beans at the grocery store. After cooking them, I ate a small bowl and then put the remaining 7-8 c. of cooked beans in the fridge. And I was stumped... what to do, what to do? 

Finally, the morning of the Superbowl, I searched the pantry and fridge for ingredients to make a dessert and appetizer, and kept coming back to the Black Eyes Peas. Surely  there was some sort of dip or croquette I could make with them, so I did a little google-ing. I found a Paula Deen recipe that was shockingly healthy, and looked really delicious. I even had most of the ingredients on hand, so I got to work on it. I made a few changes, Paula's recipe seemed pretty basic (read: bland), so I decided to give it a Tex-Mex flavor, a cross between Chipotle's two salsas with the addition of beans. The end result was a delicious, fresh salsa/dip that was perfect with Tostitos scoops chips! This also made a little over 2 quarts of dip, so it was plentiful.

Note: I highly recommend cooking dried beans for this, canned tend to be mushy, and for this dip you want the peas to hold their shape and have a bit of a bite. I simply added 1 lb. beans to 8 c. salted water, brought to a boil, reduced and simmered for 45 minutes/1 hour, drained, cooled and stored in the refrigerator. 

Tex-Mex Black Eyed Pea Dip

heavily adapted from Paula Deen

3/4 lb. dried Black Eyed Peas, cooked

2 c. frozen corn kernels

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 green bell pepper, finely diced

1 red bell pepper, finely diced

4 scallions, minced (or 1/4 red onion)

1/2 c. roughly chopped cilantro

1 small jalapeño, seeded and minced

dressing:

1 garlic clove, pasted with salt

Juice of 1 lime

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. honey

1/2 c. EVOO

Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Add all salad ingredients to a large plastic storage container or serving bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together garlic, lime juice, vinegar, chili powder, cumin and honey.

Slowly add EVOO, whisking constantly.

Taste, season with kosher salt and pepper.

Add dressing to the dip, toss well and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Toss well before serving, chilled, with scoops chips.