Augusta Hopping John

breezermom's Note:

Southern cooking at its finest! Get ready to have some good luck in the New Year if you have this dish on New Years! This recipe is totally "from scratch", using dried beans and fresh ingredients. For a short cut, you could use canned or frozen black eyed peas, but try the dried peas...they don't take that long to cook once they have soaked for a while. I can make a meal of this by itself, just by adding a piece of cornbread! I hope you enjoy this as much as my family has in the past. Please note: Prep time does not include soaking time!

• Total Time: 2 hrs 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 8 cups

• 1 cup dried black-eyed peas
• 5 cups water, divided
• 2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 lb ham hock
• 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 cup long grain rice, uncooked
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup tomato, chopped
• 1 cup green onion, chopped
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded

Directions:

1. Sort and wash peas; place in a Dutch oven. Cover with water 2 inches above peas; let soak 24 hours. Drain, return to Dutch oven. Add 4 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 30 minutes or until tender. Set aside.
2. Place ham hocks in a medium saucepan; add water to cover. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heate, and simmer 40 minutes or until meat is tender. Remove from bone; coarsely chop meat. You can do this at the same time that the peas are cooking.
3. Add chopped meat, remaining 1 cup water, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, bacon, and next 3 ingredients to peas; stir well. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally.
4. To serve, spoon into individual serving bowls. Top each serving with tomato, green onions, and cheese.

Reviews

[Celiac Cafe]

OMG. I think I've died and gone to southern heaven. This is even better than the hoppin' john I used to have as a child. Paired it with #156352 and even better. Keeper for sure and the leftovers are going in the freezer. If I could give this more than 5 stars I would!

[Linda's Busy Kitchen]

It doesn't have to be New Years Day to make this winner of a recipe! There was a great combination of flavors in this dish and my friend and her DH enjoyed their first time having a traditional Hoppin' John! I served it up with Mexican Corn Bread and it couldn't have been better! Oh yeah, my only change was I used brown rice instead of regular. Thank you for sharing your recipe with us Breezermom! Made for Gimme 5 Tag Game 3/09 Linda

[puppitypup]

We loved it! This dish has so much flavor! The only problem I had was starting with too big of a pan, so my ham hock wasn't completely submerged. I switched pans halfway through and everything went smoothly after that. Thanks for a great recipe, please see my rating system.