Hoppin’ John
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This is a staple of Southern Cooking, with a classic combination of black eyed peas, pork, and rice. This is a traditional dish for celebrating New Year’s Day.
The original recipe calls for ham hocks, but I like to use cubed leftover ham. If using ham, you want to cook the beans in a ham or chicken stock instead of water, and then you want to hold the ham back and brown it with the sausage and add it for the final cook.
Hoppin’ John
Category
Cajun/Creole
Prep Time
45 minutes
Cook Time
3 hours
Total Time
3 hours, 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 1# dried black-eyed peas, rinsed, soaked overnight and drained
- 2 ham hocks or 1# of cubed ham
- 8 cups of water (or broth if not using ham hocks)
- 4 strips of thick cut bacon
- 1 package Andouille, sliced ½ inch on the bias
- ½ large onion, chopped
- 1 bunch of green onions, whites and greens separate, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 sliced jalapeno pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1.5 cups dry rice, rinsed
- salt and creole seasoning to taste
Instructions
- Soak the peas overnight in 8-12 cups of water with 3 Tbsp salt.
- The next day, drain and rinse the peas and then put them with the ham hocks into a Dutch oven or stock pot. Add all but 2 cups of the water and bring to a boil. Cover and place into a 225-degree oven to simmer for 1-2 hours.
- While the peas and ham hocks are simmering, prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Cook the bacon in a skillet, and then remove to a plate.
- Brown the Andouille in the bacon grease and remove to the same plate. Brown the cubed ham if you have that and remove to the plate.
- Sauté the onions, pepper and celery in the grease until soft, adding more oil if needed.
- Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes.
- If using ham hocks, remove them from the pot to cool.
- Chop the cooked bacon, and add it and the sausage to the pot of beans.
- Add the vegetables from the skillet to the pot of beans.
- Deglaze the skillet with the water you set aside and then add back to the pot.
- Shred the pork off the bones when cool enough to handle and add back to the pot.
- Add the jalapenos, bay leaves, rice, salt, and creole seasoning. Simmer covered for another hour or so adding more water if needed – or remove the lid to reduce if there is too much water.
- Garnish with chives and/or onion greens and/or parsley.
- Serve with hot sauce, a good crusty bread, a salad, and your favorite beer or wine.