Recipe: Smoky Black-Eyed Pea Spread With Greens
It’s Black History Month and the internet and library are full of resources (all of which happen to be accessible all year round!) to guide your education there. As it happens, so is the grocery store. One of my favorite tiny meditations is to look at whatever edible item I’m rinsing or chopping or about to ingest and think about how it got to me — whose hands, what earth, which seed, via what cultural pathway — or who else may be eating it somewhere in the world. It doesn’t just calm my twitchy brain, it makes me comfortably aware of the web of interconnection in which we all exist.
Do a little search on collard greens and you will learn that they were one of a few vegetables that enslaved African-Americans were allowed to grow and harvest for their own use. Dip into the history of the black-eyed pea and it won’t take long to make a connection to George Washington Carver, an American agricultural scientist and inventor and the most prominent black scientist of the early 20th century. Carver was a pioneering thinker on the links between American industrial agriculture and soil depletion. He promoted crops such as legumes both as a source of nutrition and freedom for poor farmers and as crucial restoration for farmland ravaged by the aggressive cultivation of cotton.
This hummus-adjacent preparation draws on the smoky flavors of the traditionally hammy and good fortune-ensuring Hoppin' John of New Year’s Day fame to make a super flavorful, nutrition-packed dip or spread.
Smoky Black-eyed Pea Spread with Greens
⅔ cup dried black beans
1 fat pinch baking soda
2 teaspoons salt, divided
6-8 leaves collard greens
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch scallions, finely minced
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Rinse the beans and examine for stones. Place in a medium bowl and add the baking soda, then boiling water to cover. Allow to soak for one hour.
Drain, rinse, and place the beans in a pot with fresh water to cover by 1-2 inches. Bring to a boil and simmer, partially covered, until completely tender, about 40 minutes (if you have a pressure cooker, this is a great way to deploy it).
Bring another pot of water to boil, add one teaspoon of the salt, and cook the collards until bright green and just tender, about three minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Fold the leaves lengthwise and cut away the center rib (you can reserve these for dipping in the finished product) and then finely chop the leaves. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat and sauté the scallions until lightly browned. Add the paprika, stir, then add the tomato paste and cook for about a minute. Add the greens and the vinegar and cook another minute.
Drain the beans, reserving any liquid, and set aside ½ cup of the beans to add texture later. Purée the remaining beans with enough of the reserved liquid to allow you to get a nice smooth texture. Stir in the seasoned greens mixture and reserved whole beans, and taste for salt.
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