mom's black-eye pea soup

How To Make mom's black-eye pea soup

• Step 1
  Soak peas overnight. Rinse thoroughly and discard the bad peas and empty shells. Transfer peas to a large pot and cover with water about 2-3 inches above the peas.
• Step 2
  Add salt, onion, bay leaf, celery and ham bone. Bring to a boil; skim off the foam, then cover and simmer for 2-4 hours, until the peas are tender and the water has thickened slightly and turned a pale brown.
• Step 3
  Meanwhile prepare the topping and corn bread. First, for the topping, in a medium bowl, combine the onion, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Pour vinegar over the top to cover and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for a couple hours.
• Step 4
  Next, prepare the corn bread (she uses jiffy mix, but feel free to make your own recipe if you prefer). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and blend well. Pour mixture into the baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. Remove, and let cool.
• Step 5
  Finally, when peas are finished cooking, remove from heat and discard the onion, celery and bay leaf. Remove the ham bone, pick off any meat and place meat back in pot; discard the bone. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Step 6
  To serve, start with a soup bowl. Place one piece of corn bread in the center. Ladle soup over the top of the bread. Top that with some of the onion/tomato topping, including a bit of the vinegar juice. This meal is so yummy when you take a bite that has a bit of everything on your spoon.
• Step 7
  Side note: my mom also used to fry up some potatoes as well to go with this meal.
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