New Year's Hoppin' Johns

It's been a long time since I posted! Over 3 years to be exact. Well, life has gotten busy, new job, Covid restrictions, and my pursing my MBA. But, I've still been cooking, creating recipes, experimenting in the kitchen. I've also combined some of that with trying some meal prep delivery services - 3 to be exact. Each time, I realize I like the things I create better.

I've also gotten a new grill, a Kamado Joe and I hope to post some recipes and YouTube videos using that in the future. 

But I digress, I often make black-eyed peas and ham for New Year's. My own version of Hoppin' John's. This year, I took it up a notch with some additional veggies and smoked pepper flakes. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Hoppin’ John’s

 

Ingredients

 

·      ½ pound dried black-eyed peas, picked over for stones, rinsed, soaked in water overnight, and drained

·      2 tbsp bacon drippings

·      1small onion, chopped

·      2large garlic cloves, minced

·      1 large carrot diced

·      2 celery stalks split and diced

·      4 cups chicken stock, store-bought or homemade

·      3/4-cup diced (¼-inch) ham (2½ ounces)

·      ¾ teaspoon smokey red-pepper flakes

·      Fine salt and black pepper

·      ½ cup long-grain rice

 

Directions

Soak the black-eyed peas in cold water overnight, then drain when ready to cook.

In a large saucepan, heat bacon drippings until sizzling. Add the onion and garlic and cook until just translucent, about 3 minutes. Add carrots and celery and saute’ for 2 minutes longer. Stir in the chicken stock, black-eyed peas, ham, red-pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer on low heat.

 

 Stir in the rice. Cover and return the pot to a simmer. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes longer.