Black – Eyed Peas have been a traditional meal on New Years day in the United States for many years. Typically in the south the dinner would consist of black -eyed peas, collard greens and corn bread. The peas bringing you pennies, the greens bringing you dollars and the corn bread bringing you gold. Essentially they all bring you luck. Let’s be honest after the year 2020, who doesn’t need a little luck? In Italy they eat lentils on New Years Day, every country does something a little different. So you all know how much I love Italy, so I had to throw together a little combo. And the instant pot made it very easy to put together. Before I get to the recipe I have some side notes in preparing this dish.
I served these black eyed peas with Miso Glazed Salmon. What I did to make the flavor pop and compliment the salmon and miso was add the zest of one orange and fresh minced parsley after the peas were finished cooking.
You could also add some pork to this dish, dicing up some bacon, leftover ham, pancetta or prosciutto.
Mise en Place…. because things cook quickly in the instant pot have all your ingredients ready to go.
Soak your black eyed peas – if you have time, this really helps. If you celebrate too much on NYE I understand if you forget and will give you different cooking times for peas that are not soaked
I used Shifty’s Red Seasoning, I really like the flavor. This seasoning has S&P, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, onion powder and coffee. If you do not have any of the seasoning, use 1/2 teaspoon of the above seasonings. If you would like to order here is a link https://shiftysclassicseasoning.com/collections/all
This recipe can easily be converted to a soup by adding more broth at the end of cooking.
This recipe was specially created for New Years Day 2021. Since 2020 was one hell of a year, we need all the good luck we can get!
Ingredients
Scale
12 ounces soaked black eye peas (about 3 cups)
1 cup red lentils
Olive Oil
2 celery stalks diced
1 small yellow onion diced
2 carrots peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper diced
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 small jalapeno seeded and minced
2 teaspoons Shifty’s Red Seasoning (see notes in blog)
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
sprigs of fresh herbs, parsley, rosemary, thyme
Instructions
Set your instant pot to the saute’ mode, once the inner pot is hot give a good swirl of olive oil. Add the veggies, garlic and jalapneo cook stirring occasionally until the onions turn translucent, 3 – 5 minutes. Add the soaked black eye peas, broth, seasoning and fresh herbs. Give a good stir.
Place the lid on, locking it into place. Set the steam release knob to the sealing position. Press the pressure cook or manual button on high for 5 minutes. Allow for a natural release for 10 minutes. Carefully turn the steam release knob to venting.
When all the steam is released carefully remove the lid and stir in the red lentils. Replace the lid locking into place, make sure the steam release knob is set to sealing, using the manual or pressure cook button to high for 1 minute. After the cooking time is up instantly and carefully turn the venting knob to release the steam.
When all the steam has been released carefully remove the lid. You can discard the stems of fresh herbs. Taste and adjust the seasoning. If you would like the peas more soupy you can add more broth.
Notes
* for dry peas that are not pre soaked, use 1 1/2 cup dry black eyed peas and increase the initial cook time to 15 minutes (instead of 5 minutes) the remainder of the cooking instructions stay the same.
* if you would like to add pork product add 1 cup diced (bacon, ham, pancetta) to the veggies as you are sauteing. If you have a ham hock you can add it to the pot when adding the peas.
