black bean and black-eyed pea chili

Blogtime laxing to organise a bit better. It´s already Pinsedagene, the weekend holiday here after May 17th. Studying lots. Quickly:

BLACK BEAN and BLACK-EYED PEA CHILI

1. Into a large pot, put a few cups, total, of both dried black beans and dried black-eyed peas. Season with fresh ground peppercorns, flaked salt, coriander seeds, black cumin seeds, chopped celery stalks and leaves, fresh herbs (thyme, basil, chervil, oregano), cumin, tabasco.

Cover this with boiling water. Not hot water, but boiling. Top up with boiling water atleast half way up pot. Turn on burner, to about medium to keep the boil, cover, then once at a boil again, turn down a bit, to keep a simmer. Simmer til beans are soft, but not mushy.

At the end, add what you have to hand in the larder, and whatever you like. OR, at this point, cool and put into portioned containers and freeze for quick soup/stew starters. Today, I´m using a thawed out portion adding:

shredded chicken from a roast chicken, some more fresh herbs and dried herbs, a little more salt and pepper to taste, a can of crushed Italian tomatoes, okra, and a little beef summer sausage. Simmered all together just enough to cook through but not turn mushy, and not turn the okra slimey. In the end, if you like, just put the entire pot into the oven on warm to simmer for a more even heat, not just from the bottom.

Serve over pasta such as spinach fettucine, or brown jasmine rice, or blue corn chips. Top with a dollop of rømme (full fat traditional Norwegian sour cream).
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maybe Smores for dessert. Digestives, marshmallows, dark baking chocolate, warmed over the fire. It´s summery temperatures, cooling at night. Gorgeous! Winter has finally gone, skipped spring mostly, and gone full on for summer today. yay. finally:). That deserves a smile!