Spicy Rice Bake with Collard Greens, Black-Eyed Peas, and Sweet Potato

I have a couple of confessions to make. I suppose I should get the big one out of the way first. I'm a Southern girl, born and raised in Georgia... but I cannot stand the taste of black-eyed peas. Unfortunately, it's a Southern tradition (and maybe elsewhere too) to eat them on New Years Day. Before I moved out on my own, I would just suck it up and eat them however they were prepared and never touch them again the rest of the year, but now that I'm doing (most of) the cooking, I've taken to dressing them up however I can... and never touching them again the rest of the year. I found this recipe because I wanted my peas and the required greens for the day, also a tradition, to be an (almost) one-dish meal.

My second confession is, you know how sometimes you're following a recipe step-by-step, and it gets to one ingredient, and you look at the amount and go 'no way' but do it anyway? Yeah, I did that with this, with the cayenne pepper. Next time, I'm halving it. It's very delicious, but my stomach did not thank me and my eyes watered. Oh, it was good, though.

Spicy Rice Bake with Collard Greens, Black-Eyed Peas, and Sweet Potato
A recipe by Vegetarians of Washington

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 cubes (I like triangles better, but it makes no difference)
• 6 large collard leaves, rinsed and large ribs removed, torn into 1/2" sections (I guestimated this to be about 2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups of brown rice
• 1 can of black-eyed peas, rinsed well and drained
• 6 cups of boiling water
• 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper 
• 1/4 cup of tamari or soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Roo helped by napping
while it baked

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and salt, and saute for about 2 to 3 minutes, until onions begin to soften. Add garlic and saute until onion is almost translucent, about another 2 to 3 minutes. 
3. Add the sweet potatoes and collards. Continue to saute until collards are bright green and wilted, about another 5 minutes. Do not let the greens become dark green.
4.  Place rice and black-eyed peas in a 9x13 baking pan. Add the sweet potato mixture and cayenne pepper and mix well. Pour 6 cups of boiling water, the tamari (or soy sauce), and the balsamic vinegar into the baking dish and mix carefully. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours (90 minutes), until rice and peas are tender. Stir gently and serve hot.