Hoppin' John

Happy New Year!

Black Eyed Peas and Hoppin' John are good luck for the new year, so I like to make this recipe for New Year's Day. I have made this meatless version many times to welcome in the new year......from the cookbook, Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. I'm sure that a version with ham would be delicious too, it's just I usually want something lower fat after all the holiday eating. I am so tired of eating so many good things, so this will be a good time to have something a bit lighter.

The story goes like this...the peas swell to symbolize prosperity for the new year. This meal should be served with greens to symbolize money for the new year....I'm going with the Brussels sprouts since they're green. I think the condensed version is just that Hoppin' John is good luck. We'll go with that! Besides, it's good.

It is really good with a small amount of grated smoked cheese on it....not so bad since I didn't use the ham hocks?

Soak and cook black eye peas to end up with 4 c or so. I used 2+ c dried, an entire package. May wish to reserve some water after draining them. I didn't reserve any water since I cooked the black eyed peas the day before in the crockpot and opted to use boxed stock instead.

Saute:
1 c finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced in 1 T or so of olive oil

Add:
pinch of allspice
pinch of cayenne
1 1/2 T tamari or soy sauce

Stir this mixture into the black eyed peas with some reserved cooking water or stock. Simmer gently for 20 minutes or so stirring often.

Serve over rice with:
chopped green onion
chopped tomato
parsley
sour cream or smoked cheese ( we used smoked gouda from Trader Joe's)

This is an especially good New Year's Day since the Badgers are in the Rose Bowl. Let's hope that the black eyed peas give them good luck too.

Go Big Red!
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