Black-eyed Peas

The way I see it, either you are an Apple or a PC person. I, unfortunately, seem to be the latter.  That explains why I am a day late and now a couple hundred bucks short ( nasty virus, I'll spare you the details ). So this blog was supposed to launch yesterday, September 10 commemorating a rather special day.

You see, twenty five years ago on that day, my partner, Vincent began his career in Charlottesville at the Galarie Restaurant.  For those of you not around ( or alive ) at that time, it's the bombed out looking structure on the corner of 250 and 240 as you head towards Crozet.  I too, began work the same day at the Silver Thatch Inn just north of town.

We wouldn't meet until the next April, when I moved across town to the Galarie and, well, the rest is a bit of history.  We had planned on doing a Pop Up dinner to celebrate the day, but as I mentioned a a few weeks ago, the ABC isn't really thrilled with the idea.  Oh the horrors! We do have a pretty cool event happening this Sunday. It's a fund raiser for the Local Food Hub.   Basically, they are giving us a ton of raw ingredients including meats, vegetable, quail eggs and grains and we turn them into a series of small apps.

We'll be doing something with black-eyed peas, what at this moment I do not know. I did take the liberty to cook a handful last night, so I thought I share a recipe with you.  Most of you recognize them dried, but here they are fresh.

Gorgeous aren't they.  First we need to shell them.  Just split them in half with your fingers, and peel back one side.

See the green color, those are nice and fresh.  Once you have shelled them, bring a pot of salted water to boil.  We are going to blanch them for 30-40 seconds.

They should still have a bite to them, don't overcook them.  Drain and set aside.

Now, in keeping with the season, I've got three types of tomatoes, basil, and eggplant, all from the garden.  Also a little chopped shallots and garlic.

This couldn't be simpler.  Sweat the garlic and shallots in olive oil.  Then add the eggplant and let it brown slightly.  Finally, add the chopped tomatoes and let them give up some liquid, then the basil and finally the peas.

Give the pan a shake or two

This by itself is a nice light dinner.  I ended up topping mine with a seared piece of Grouper ( not pictured)

Enjoy!!