This is a straightforward dish, black-eyed peas prepared in a salsa to be served with lightly browned flour quesadillas filled with melty jack cheese. Perfect for lunch. The recipe can be as simple as you want. You can use canned black-eyed peas, roasted bell peppers, and green chiles, or you can cook the peas or roast the chiles and peppers yourself. In the batch I’ve prepared here, I used canned black-eyed peas, and roasted my own poblano and red bell peppers. The chiles were mild, so I added some chopped pickled jalapeños. Happy New Year!
Want to make your own tortillas? Try this recipe: Homemade Flour Tortillas
I used a combination of freshly roasted poblano chiles and pickled jalapeños. This is because the poblanos I had were exceptionally mild and I wanted more heat, which I was able to get from the pickled jalapeños. Use some combination of cooked green chiles, either canned or fresh. Taste for heat and adjust to your preference.
3 1/4 to 4 cups cooked black-eyed peas (2 15.5-ounce cans, rinsed, drained) 1/2 to 2/3 cups chopped, cooked, mild green chiles (2 large poblanos or 3 Anaheims, roasted, seeded, and chopped) and/or 1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapenos (to taste) 1/2 to 2/3 cups chopped roasted red bell pepper (can use jarred marinated or roast fresh red bell peppers by charring over a gas flame or under a broiler, placing in a covered bowl for a few minutes, wiping off the char, seeding, and chopping) 6 to 8 green onions, thinly sliced including at least half the greens, about 1/2 to 2/3 cup total 1 bunch cilantro, chopped, tender stems included (about a cup) 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled Large pinch ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper
Quesadillas:
1 dozen flour tortillas 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, sliced or grated
Drizzle with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Sprinkle with crumbled, dried oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper. Toss and let marinate while you prepare the quesadillas. Flip it over and place a light layer of cheese over the tortilla. If you are using grated cheese, you can just sprinkle it all over. If using sliced cheese, lay the slices down on only one side of the tortilla. When tortilla begins to form air pockets or the cheese begins to melt, use a spatula to lift up one edge of the tortilla and turn it over to the other edge, as if you were making an omelette. Let cook until lightly browned, and then flip the whole quesadilla over to the other side and let cook until lightly browned on that side. Remove from the pan and prepare the other quesadillas in the same manner.
