Hoppin' John

By mlmason

Adaptedfrom "Southern Food," by John Egerton (ONe Press, 1993). Hoppin' John dishes fall into two schools: cooking the rice and the peas together, or cooking them separately and then combining. We prefer the second method, bothfor ease and because there's less risk that the rice will cook unevenly. If you are not serving a crowd, you could cut this in half.

Ingredients

• 1 pound (2 cups) dried black-
• eyed peas (I sometimes use several cans of Margaret Holmes)
• 3 bacon slices
• 1 dried red pepper or 1 tea­spoon red pepper flakes (optional) -
• 1 cup (1 medium) finely chopped onion
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced (op­tional)
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain \ rice
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

Details

Servings 10

Preparation

Step 1

RINS~ peas and pick over to remove any stones. Place in a deep saucepan or Dutch oven and add enough cold water to cover by sev­eral inches. Bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat and let stand 1 hour. (Or cover the peas with water and let soak ovemight.) -
PLACE bacon slices in another pot and add 6 cups water. While the peas are soaking, bring to a boil,
. reduce heat and partially cover. Simmer 1 hour.
DRAIN beans and.rinse, then add peas to the-pot with the meat.Add dried pepper or red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until peas are tender, about 1 hour 30 minutes. While peas are cooking, Add onion and green pepperto the skillet and cook slowly about 5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic, if using, and cook briefly, until fragrant. Stir into peas and continue cooking, covered, until done, adding water if
- needed to keep them from cooking dry. (Can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated. Rewarm before continuing.)
ABOUT 30 minutes before serving, bring 2 cups of water and 0 tea­spoon salt to a boil in a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add 1 cup rice, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 20 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand a few minutes. Remove meat from peas and stir in cooked rice.