Blackened Kielbasa and Black Eyed Peas Comfort

Thursday night is an excellent night for comfort food in this house. Other nights are excellent too, but this week, Thursday was the night. And what a recipe I have for you today...

A highly satisfying, tasty, well-balanced, warm and delightful bowl of comfort and good food awaits you at the end of this post-if you make it yourself!

Here is my recipe for Blackened Kielbasa and Black Eyed Peas:

(It makes 2 healthy portions for two hungry people)

-First, slice one half of a kielbasa sausage, 1/4 inch thick

(mine was frozen, this will effect the following cooking times)

-Arrange these in a skillet and season with 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

-Heat kielbasa over medium heat on a skillet for ~ 6 minutes

(until just starting to blacken around the edges of the side facing down)

-Flip each slice, and add 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Keep a watchful eye, and remove from skillet when the bottom is mostly blackened, ~ 1 min.

-Place on a paper plate to drain

-Scrape the worst of the debris in the skillet out

-Then, chop the following

1 carrot

1 celery rib

3 cloves garlic

1 cup onion

-Heat skillet on low

-Add 1 1/2 Tbs. vegetable oil to the skillet and the chopped vegetables

-Saute for about 8 minutes to lock in flavor

-Next, add the following

2 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. ground red pepper

-Stir, then add

1 15.5 oz. can of black eyed peas, seasoned with bacon, drained

1 cup chicken broth

2 bay leaves

-Bring to a boil over medium heat for a few minutes

-Add kielbasa

-Boil for 10 minutes, uncovered

You can reduce now to a simmer, let rest and reheat before dinner, this will let the flavors relax, mingle, soak about. I also like to add about 8-10 precooked shrimp when I reheat this dish before dinner, I like the additional complexity and texture they add to the flavor, but it is purely optional. I wonder, and I'd be willing to bet, if this dish would be good the next day as well. Some things are even better when they get to sit for overnight. Anyway, I hope you try and enjoy this dish, we had it last night with cornbread muffins on the side (with a touch of cayenne added for kick) to soak up the juice and it was wonderful.

Try it! And let me know what you think...