Cooking by Proxy

In the South, it is traditional to have black-eyed peas for the New Year, black-eyed peas symbolizing luck and prosperity. I don't know about you, but I could sure use some good luck for the New Year. Prosperity wouldn't exactly hurt either. What does hurt is my ankle, which I sprained badly a few weeks ago. I have a lovely cast and a set of crutches. On the upside, I also have a husband who has taken over just about all of my responsibilities, from dog care and plant watering, to cooking. And so, tonight, although the blog post and recipe are brought to you by me, the actual dinner has been provided by Ryan.

NEW YEAR'S DAY BLACK-EYED PEAS AND SAUSAGE
Go ahead, make a double recipe, it takes so long to cook, you might as well have an extra meal to tuck away in the freezer.

Ingredients
1 C black-eyed peas soaked (cover a cup of peas with a few cups of water, bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat, let sit for an hour. If there's water left, drain it off).
2 T olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 C canned crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced.
1 lb sausage (check ingredient list to make sure it's gf)

Directions
Combine the oil, onion, garlic, carrot and tomatoes in a large oven-proof pot or dutch oven. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place the sausages in a large skillet with about an inch of cooking water. Cover and let the sausages cook for about 15 minutes. Then cut the sausages into disks. It's okay if they're raw in the middle, they have a ton of cooking left to do! Put the sausage disks in with the tomato sauce. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 20 minutes on low with the cover on. Then add the black-eyed peas and stir in. Add enough water to cover. Put the lid on the pot or dutch oven. Cook for an hour and a half to two hours. Check every half hour or so. If there's not enough liquid, add a half cup more of water. If after an hour and a half there's too much water, remove the cover. The black-eyed peas and sausage mixture should be very thick, even a bit thicker than a traditional stew. It's done when the mixture is thick enough and the black-eyed peas are nice and tender.