Hoppin' Skippin' John

For New Year's Day this year we had some black-eyed peas and greens, it took me a month to post it, man I even missed posting it for Chinese New Year. The problem is I didn't really go by a recipe (yes, I know that's not an excuse, but it's the best I have), but I went by several recipes plus with a little bit of this and a pinch of that...so it made it a little difficult to post. Living in the south the stores here have everything fresh, ready, and available for making black eyed peas and greens. they will evean wash and tear the greens for us in several differnt kinds to choose from. Then they put it on sale at a very good price so you really can go wrong. Eating this on New Year's day is believed to bring good fortune. I bought some fresh shelled black eyed peas and kale instead of turnip, or collard greens...just because I know my family will eat kale and enjoy it.

Never working with fresh black-eyed peas before I went by what it said on the package. So I boiled them for the amount of time on the package...if you were using dried you would want to soak them over night, and drain, then cook them is fresh water for twenty minutes or until tender..

I used and adapted from the recipe on the package and the Hoppin' Skippin' John recipe from Graham Kerr's Best cookbook.

ingredients:

1 pounds black-eyed peas (fresh or frozen)
or 1 cup dried
1 small onion,or large shallot (I used) finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
2 bay leaves
4 whole cloves freshly ground
1 tablespoon loosely packed thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or Red pepper flakes to taste
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste
3 cups water or broth
2 cups torn greens (collard or kale or what eve you like) washed and stems removed

Hot cooked rice

In a large deep skillet or Dutch oven or stew pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderate heat and cook shallot until soft about 3 minutes. Add celery, thyme, bay leaves, ground clove and garlic cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the peas, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer till the peas are tender but not mushy, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Add the greens and cook for about 5 minutes add more water if needed.Remove the bay leaves and squeeze a little lemon juice and you can add fresh parsley to top it off. Serve over rice.



I didn't use ham in my Hoppin' John, but I didn't make a pork roast to serve with it. Pork is also eaten on New Year's day. I seasoned it with a blend that I picked up at the German store. Cooked it until it reached 160 degrees. I still have to cook my pork all the way through, I know you can go less nowadays, but I just can't do it. Since this was such a lean pork loin roast I watched it carefully not to over cook it and have it dry out.

Of course this could be eaten anytime of year...and I always love the pan drippings over the moist meat, so full of flavor, better than any gravy!

Such a lazy day after dinner. Our neighbor's cat has adopted us (I think that's what cats do choose where they want to hang out) he will come in and make himself at home now instead of a quick walk through visit. He knows now that Tucker is so old he doesn't have to worry...

...he can walk right by him and not wake Tucker up. He is such a sound sleeper now that he can't hear much any more...it sucks getting old.

Aww...he must of fallen asleep on the futon in the bonus room after he unloaded the groceries and read the sports page...hehe

Neggie must of been going through some cookbooks on the couch in the living room before it wore him out...I wonder what recipes he is dreaming of? I hope he wrote them down...oh...to have such a rough animal's life