We feel lucky that a lot of the food we eat comes from farmers and producers that we know personally and have bought from for many years.
During this pandemic we have to tried to support them more than ever, especially as the bulk of their revenue comes from restaurants that have been closed or operating at limited capacity for some months.
The current situation also presents opportunities. A farmer emailed to say they had a glut of newly harvested pink eyed peas. The timing didn’t work out for them to include them in their weekly CSA box, and there simply wasn’t the demand from restaurant customers to shift them so we were offered a great deal on a 10lb bag of fresh pink eyed peas.
A 10lb bag of pink eyes peas is pretty big, but undaunted we managed to find good uses for every last one. Some we gave to friends, others we blanched, packed into 1lb bags and stuck in the freezer for winter, but we simply had to eat some of them while they were fresh. The fresh peas only took 7-8 minutes to cook in a pan of salted boiling water.
Tomatoes are also plentiful at the moment so it seemed obvious to combine the peas with a sauce made from fresh tomatoes and enjoy them piled onto freshly toasted homemade sourdough.
Pink Eyed Pea and Tomato Bruschetta
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
A generous pinch of chilli flakes
1.5lb fresh tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
12oz cooked pink eyes peas
Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, salt, basil and oregano. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the pink eyed peas and simmer until warmed through (about 10 minutes).
To serve as bruschetta, toast or grill slices of bread just before the peas and tomatoes have finished cooking. Rub the warm bread with a clove of garlic, then pile the peas and tomatoes on top, season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
Alternatively, you could serve the tomatoes and peas on generously buttered hot toast for more of a “beans on toast” vibe.