Black-eyed Peas and Fennel
I always make a big pot of hopping john for New Year's Day. It promises good luck. But why wait? This comforting stew of black-eyed peas and fennel is fancy for the table, easy in the kitchen. How lucky can you get?
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 fennel bulb sliced thin
- 1 can 15-ounces diced tomatoes
- 2 cups black-eyed peas cooked and cooled
- 1 bunch fresh kale spinach or the greens of your dreams washed well, blotted dry and sliced into bite-sized ribbons
- 1/4 cup anisette or white wine
- 1 teaspoon cider or sherry vinegar
- sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, garlic and pepper flakes. Stir to coat and reduce heat to medium. Add sliced fennel and saute vegetables, stirring occasionally, until soft, golden and fragrant, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, the black-eyed peas and wine or anisette. Add chopped greens by the handful and mix gently. Cover and reduce heat to low, so the greens become tender. Let ingredients simmer for another 15 minutes.
- Stir in the cider or sherry vinegar and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
- You can serve it out of the pot, where it will moist but not watery. If you'd like a drier dish, pour beans and fennel into a lightly oiled casserole and bake uncovered at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through and lightly crusty on top.