Good Luck Duck

I don’t know how it got started, but someone long ago decided that it is important to eat black-eyed peas first thing on New Year’s Day. It’s supposed to bring good luck. So here’s a recipe that just might tip the scales of fortune your way this year. For extra flavor, you may wish to throw an oven-browned duck carcass or two into the pot while the black-eyed peas are cooking. If you want to save some time, you can use either fresh or canned black-eyed peas. Did you know that there are over 7,000 different varieties of black-eyed peas? Do you care?

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Good Luck Duck

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried black-eyed peas
• 2 quarts water
• 1 - 2 smoked ham hocks
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 celery stalks diced
• 2 medium carrots diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper seeded and minced
• 3 cups duck breast; boneless skinless and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
• dash Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups tomato diced (canned or fresh)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Tabasco to taste

Instructions

• Combine peas and water in a large stockpot.
• Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat and let stand for 1 hour.
• Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to simmer.
• Add ham hocks and salt and cook until peas are tender.
• Remove hocks, pick meat off and return meat to peas.
• While peas are simmering, heat the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat and sauté onion, celery, carrots and jalapeno pepper until soft.
• Add duck and brown evenly.
• Season with Worcestershire sauce. Add to peas with tomato and heat to warm. Season with salt, pepper and Tabasco.
• Good luck!