sprinklefingers

for about 12 seconds i thought it might be silly if i post a recipe for a dish you’re supposed to eat on new year’s day a day after new year’s day. then i thought - with this crazy recession we’re in i think eating a meal that symbolizes prosperity can’t be a bad idea any day of the year.

with that, here’s a recipe for hoppin’ john. or, shall i say, my interpretation of hoppin’ john. i read through probably 25 recipes for the dish - all with different styles of preparation and differing ingredients. after my research i decided to make my hoppin’ john with black-eyed peas that i’d soak overnight, with a leftover ham bone from christmas dinner, and without cooking the rice in the same pot. (in fact, i left out the rice altogether and opted instead for cornbread.) i also decided against tomatoes or hot peppers and decided to let the smokey meat from the ham be the main flavor of the dish.

we ate enormous bowls of it for dinner - the peas nestled atop a bed of braised collard greens. with plenty of salted butter for the cornbread. i’m feeling lucky already.

recession-busting hoppin’ john
serves 6-8, depending upon appetite

you need:

• 1 lb dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight in cold water, drained.
• 1 T plus 1 t bacon fat
• couple of good glugs of canola oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 plump cloves garlic, diced
• 1 small red pepper, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 t dried fines herbes (admittedly not traditional, but they add such brightness that i couldn’t resist.)
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/8 t cayenne pepper
• 1 qt chicken stock
• 1 meaty ham bone, any size

to make the hoppin’ john:

1. you soaked your peas overnight, right? good.
2. in a large, heavy soup pot, heat the bacon fat and canola oil over medium heat.
3. when the fats are hot, add the onion, garlic, red pepper and celery. let cook until the onion is completely translucent and then cook a few more minutes - you’ll cook these for perhaps 15 minutes in total (although don’t let anything get brown.)
4. add the herbes fines, black pepper and cayenne pepper and cook ‘til fragrant.
5. add the ham bone to the pot then top with the peas and chicken stock.
6. stir so that all the peas are in the liquid and the ingredients are well mixed.
7. cover your pot and let cook on medium for 25 minutes.
8. after 25 minutes, check on your hoppin’ john - stir it a bit, flip the ham bone over. put the lid back on and cook for 15 more minutes until the mixture is really simmering.
9. set the lid askew, lower the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 15 minutes more.
10. remove the lid completely and cook the hoppin’ john until the liquid has reduced and the peas are soft and creamy. this could take from 30 - 45 minutes, depending upon how creamy you like your peas.
11. when the hoppin’ john has finished cooking, you certainly can remove the ham bone and trim off the meat, adding the diced meat back to the pot. but because of the lengthy cooking time the meat will fall off the bone easily. you could also simply use a fork and pull the meat from the bone leaving it in larger chunks.

hoppin’ john is traditionally served with rice. if you like tradition, go ahead and whip up a batch. i like tradition, but i love cornbread, so i served my hoppin’ john with large wedges of the stuff.

hoppin’ john is also delicious with braised collard greens. to up the ability of this dish to bring you wealth in the new year, collards are a must.