Recipe - Hoppin John (Craig Claiborne)

1/8 pound Streaky bacon or salt pork*;
cut into small cubes
1/3 cup Diced carrot
One half cup Celery; finely chopped
2/3 cup Onion; finely chopped
10 ounce Fresh or frozen blackeyed
peas
1 Clove garlic; whole
2 Three fourths cup Water; (approximately)
6 Sprigs fresh thyme
1 Bay leaf
Salt to taste; optional
One fourth teaspoon Dried hot red pepper flakes
1 cup Rice
2 tablespoon Butter

GARNISHES
1 Ripe tomato; cored
One fourth pound Sharp cheddar cheese; finely
grated
cup Scallion (including green
part); finely chopped

* (about One half cup)

Put the bacon or salt pork in a saucepan and cook, stirring often, until
all the cubes are crisp. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook,
stirring, about 1 minute. Add the peas, garlic, about 1One fourth cup water, or
to barely cover, thyme, bay leaf, salt and red pepper flakes. Bring to the
boil and let simmer, uncovered, 30 to 40 minutes, until tender but not
mushy. Remove from heat. Put the rice in a saucepan and add 1One half cups
water and salt to taste. Bring to the boil and let simmer, covered 17
minutes. Stir in the butter. (Or, cook the rice as you normally would). Cut
the unpeeled tomato into 1/4inch cubes; there should be about 1 cup.

Arrange the hot rice in the center of a platter. Spoon the hot pea mixture,
including liquid over the rice. Scatter the cheese over the peas. Place
tomato cubes around the rice. Scatter the scallions over the tomatoes.
Serve immediately.

NOTES : From the book: Blackeye or blackeyed peas seem to figure
ubiquitously on Southern tables, and Yankee visitors seem to look at them
askance. They are not necessarily country fare, as many people claim them
to be. They appear on the table of rich and poor, the educated and the
uneducated alike, and are eaten with equal enthusiasm. They are the basis
of a dish known as Hoppin' John, the origin of which name no one seems to
be able to explain. The dish is....one of the most traditional of Southern
dishes. It is served in many Southern homes on New Year's Day to bring all
those assembled good luck throughout the year. This is a modernized
version demonstrated for me by Bill Neal, a fine young North Carolina chef.
Recipe by: Craig Claiborne's Southern Cooking, 1987, p. 187

Posted to recipeludigest Volume 01 Number 422 by Lou Parris
lbparris@earthlink.net on Dec 30, 1997