New Years Day Dinner

In my family, we have a tradition of serving special foods for the new year. These include black-eyed peas, pork, and greens (collards, for example). They are supposed to bring good luck.
I've never cared for black-eyed peas--they are the blandest of the dried beans to me, so I went on Epicurious.com to find a good recipe. I found one, and significantly adapted it. I've listed the original recipe below, then my adaptation.
It was delicious!

Garlicky Black-Pepper Shrimp and Black-Eyed Peas
by Paul Grimes--Gourmet magazine 
yield: Makes 6 servings 
active time: 25 min 
total time: 40 min  

For black-eyed peas:
4 bacon slices
4 scallions, chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Turkish bay leaves or 1 California
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon hot red-pepper flakes
2 (15-ounces) cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

For shrimp:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine

Make black-eyed peas:
Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until browned but not crisp. Transfer bacon to a plate, then tear into small pieces.
Cook scallions, carrot, celery, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, red-pepper flakes, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in fat in skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are pale golden, about 10 minutes. Add black-eyed peas and broth and simmer 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Make shrimp:
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Season shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Cook shrimp with garlic, stirring occasionally, until just opaque (shrimp will not be fully cooked), about 3 minutes. Add wine and bring to a boil, then briskly simmer 2 minutes. Add bacon and black-eyed-pea mixture and simmer until just heated through (mixture will be juicy). Discard bay leaves.

Ellen's Adaptation:

First, I used 1 lb. of dried beans, about the equivalent of 4 cans of peas, so I doubled the recipe for the peas from there. (I quadrupled the recipe for the shrimp.) I soaked the beans overnight, then cooked them in 2 qts of boxed organic chicken broth, with all the aromatics (scallions, garlic, carrots, celery, bay, thyme, and red pepper) added. I left out the green peppers, because I'm allergic to them.

Cooking the peas in the broth gave them a depth of flavor that they wouldn't have had coming out of the can. When the peas were cooked, I sauteed the bacon, added more green onions to the bacon fat, and cooked them until wilted.

I used 4 pounds of 25 to 30 count peeled shrimp. I bought the raw, tail-on shrimp from Costco, defrosted them overnight in the refrigerator,  and removed the tails. I cooked them according to the directions (but quadrupling the ingredients, as I was using 4 times as much shrimp), then combined the beans, shrimp, and bacon, and reheated everything. I added enough broth to make it a bit soupy--not at all dry.

The recipe was really quite good. We'll do it again.