Give Canned Peas A Southern-Style Twist With A Few Common Staples

Canned peas are more of a blank canvas than a ready-to-eat food, one that's just waiting for any one of a plethora of different ingredients to elevate them into a beloved side dish. Much like making a creamy side dish from canned corn, you can give them a Southern-style twist with nothing more than a standard béchamel sauce and a bit of extra sweetness.

This process is pretty straightforward and should only take a couple of minutes once you've warmed your peas in their juices and drained them thoroughly. The key is to use a French rather than a dark New Orleans roux, keeping its color light and neutral rather than toasted and hearty. This keeps the final product on the lighter side, complementing the fresh vegetable taste of the peas rather than weighing them down with too much heavy flavor. Once your sauce is smooth and thick, just dump in the peas for something reminiscent of creamed corn.

The real "Southernness" of this dish comes from a pinch of added sugar. Much like with traditional creamed corn, many Southerners like their creamed veggies to have a bit of sweetness, and it works perfectly with canned peas. Just be sure to stir everything gently with a soft utensil, like a rubber spatula, to avoid breaking up and mashing the peas. The smooth creaminess combined with the little "pops" from the peas creates a contrast of textures that makes this dish truly sensational.

Southern food is as diverse as any other culture's, but you probably have a few staples on hand that can make this into a truly down-home side dish. Whether you tweak the cooking fat in the roux or just add some extra spices to either the peas or the sauce, you can customize this recipe in a ton of different ways to fit your tastes.

A simple béchamel is just begging for more flavor, so long as you use equal parts cooking fat and starch to form the roux. Bacon fat, lard, duck fat, or tallow all up the flavor of any roux and are about as Southern as it gets. Small dashes of garlic or onion powder diversify the flavors even in small amounts and keep things from tasting too bland. You can even add a bit of capsaicin with a touch of cayenne since the milk in the béchamel will help keep things from becoming too spicy.

If you're looking for acid instead, try replacing some of the milk with buttermilk. The added acidity works great with vegetables and makes the whole thing taste more vibrant. If you don't have any on hand, a squeeze of lemon makes peas taste less boring just as easily while also adding a bit of fruitiness. If you add acids or citrus, just be sure to stir them into the sauce at the very end to help avoid accidental curdling.