Happy New Year: starting off on the right foot with Hoppin’ John
Dec 31, 2015 in heritage recipes, holiday fare, recipes, sides, beans, black eyed peas, cajun, hoppin john, hoppin juan, hopping john. Read the original on: Oat&Sesame
I hope your Christmas festivities were wonderful! My in-laws drove all the way from Georgia to spend Christmas week with us – unfortunately they arrived to find me wrapped up in a blanket with fever and chills. My philosophy on being sick is to push through, be tough, drink water, maybe sweat it out. Don’t let it take you down. This time it did.
After five feverish days and a round of antibiotics – I am finally feeling 98%.  It took seven full days to recover enough to leave the house. I headed straight to the gym – I needed to move, maybe throw a few punches!
New Year’s Eve is here and I’m ready to make something traditional – hoppin’ John!
When I married into a southern Cajun family, I learned about all kinds of new delectable foods. Okra, gumbo, collards, grits, and I kept hearing about something called hoppin’ John. As a born and bred Yankee you can only imagine my confusion.
When I married into a southern Cajun family, I learned about all kinds of new delectable foods. Okra, gumbo, collards, grits, and I kept hearing about something called hoppin’ John. As a born and bred Yankee you can only imagine my confusion.
Well, my mother in-law sent me the recipe with a nice little explanation of what it all means. All food has meaning and that’s half the enjoyment! Here’s what she said:
It occurred to me today when I was preparing our traditional New Year’s Day fare that you should have this recipe. It’s so old that I remember Jeremy loving it when he still lived at home…We Southerners must have black eyed peas (represent coins) and greens (represents paper money) for good luck and prosperity in the new year! Hope you have yours! – L
Skillet Hopping John
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Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
45 mins
Total time
55 mins
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Author: Oat&Sesame
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 large cloves garlic, pressed
- 2-3 strips bacon, chopped into bite sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 (15 oz) cans black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
- 1¾ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup uncooked long grain brown rice
- 1 tsp salt
- â…› tsp crushed red pepper
- rosemary, to taste
- thyme, to taste
- tabasco, to top
Instructions
- Add chopped bacon pieces to a saute pan and cook until crispy.
- Add butter to the pan, melt and add in the onion. Saute until onion is soft, adding garlic for the last minute or so of cooking.
- Stir in black eyed peas, chicken broth, rice, salt, â…› tsp crushed red pepper, thyme and rosemary.
- Bring mixture to a boil; cover and simmer 40- 45 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
- Let sit 10 minutes then fluff it all up with a fork and enjoy!
- Top with a dash of tabasco or your favorite hot sauce!
Notes
Some rice brands may require a bit more/less liquid. Always check your package and adjust as necessary. Mine said 2 cups, but I find that's too much so I reduce it to 1¾ cups.
This can easily be made vegan by omitting the bacon, using vegetable stock and non-dairy butter.
This can easily be made vegan by omitting the bacon, using vegetable stock and non-dairy butter.
3.5.3208
For the greens or “money†portion of this meal, my mother in law suggests braised collards which are not palatable to some family members. So another option is braised cabbage.  She says she always serves this with pork chops and corn bread drizzled with cane patch syrup.
Since my kale is continues to grow into the winter, that was my choice for the greens. Simply sauteed with olive oil and a little salt.
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Read the original on: Oat&Sesame
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