Greek Black Eyed Pea Soup

Apparently it's good luck to eat Black Eyed Peas on New Years.

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 No.

Not those Black Eyed Peas.

These:

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I wanted to make something different from the usual crockpot Black eyed pea soup I usually make.  I thought this Greek style black eyed pea stew from The Cozy Apron would fit the bill.

Sadly, while my family enjoyed it, I thought it was a bit on the bland side.  I doubled the amount of spices called for in the recipe, but it still lacked that certain something I was never able to put my finger on.  I'm wondering if the culprit might be that I used turkey stock instead of beef stock.  That is a definite possibility.

Greek Black Eye Pea Soup from The Cozy Apron
3 T olive oil, plus extra
½ pound lean ground beef ( i used 1 lb)
½ t sea salt
½ t black pepper (I used 1 t)
1 onion, diced
3 celery ribs, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ T dry oregano (I used 3T)
½ teaspoon ground cumin (I used 1 t)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used a scant t)
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
6 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas (I used 1 bag of dried beans that had been soaked and cooked about 6 cups)
5 cups beef (or chicken) stock, hot (I used turkey stock)
2 T flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 t lemon zest
2 t lemon juice

Place a large pot over med-high heat, and once hot, add the 3 T olive oil; once oil's hot, add  grbeef , break up to crumble,brown 2 min. add salt and pepper, onion, celery, carrots, minced garlic and dry oregano. Cook 2 min, add cumin, cinnamon and tomato paste. Stir to combine;  cook 2 min, add  the black-eyed peas and stock.  stir to combine, and simmer, covered, for 20 min; after 20 minutes, smash black-eyed peas lightly with potato masher to break them up to thicken the stew; cover, and simmer an additional 20 min, stirring ever so often to keep peas from sticking to bottom of pot; to finish  stew, add in parsley, lemon zest and juice.