(ames)
So, I pretty much took December off, after the marathon blogging session of last month. It wasn’t intended, but so many things in life aren’t, right? Sure.
It’s a new year, which is a completely arbitrary construct that could just as easily take place in the spring, or the summer, or any other time that wouldn’t result in my friends and me wandering around Wicker Park in the middle of the night freezing our asses off looking for a cab. Brr. But I’m home, I essentially slept the day away (which I have decided to cut myself some slack about, although I generally loathe sleeping in that late) and I am now eating the food of my people – collard greens and hoppin’ john. You can take the girl out of the South, but she’s still going to want her black-eyed peas and big leafy greens.
I wing it every year making these things, but here’s the basic recipe, such as it is:
Hoppin’ John and Collards
Stuff you need:
1 can black eyed peas, undrained
1 package Jimmy Dean sausage/vegetarian sausage.
1 onion
garlic, a couple of cloves, whatever
Worcester sauce (soy sauce is a decent veg. substitute, but adds a lot of salt, so adjust accordingly)
salt, pepper, etc.
Rice, preferably white, around a cup? Two cups? ish?
Apple cider vinegar
lemon juice, if you want
Collards, or any big tough leafy green. My rule of thumb is one package of greens = 1 person, give or take.
Things to do all at once at the beginning:
Strip the stems from the greens, discard (bitter, ugh), and rinse the leaves in cool water. Dump in a big pot with more than enough water to cover. Push them down, they’ll want to float. Turn on the heat and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling, you’re going to cut off the heat and drain out the water – this helps remove the bitterness. If the rice and beans aren’t done at this time, just let the collards sit in the pot.
Open the can of beans and dump the whole thing in a small pot; heat on low.
Cook the rice, and if you don’t have a rice cooker, I highly recommend getting one. I have one for the first time, and it’s amazing how much it eased the cooking/pot juggling process. Also, I think rice cooks faster, or something.
Now for the rest
Chop up the onion and garlic and cook on medium in a big-ass pan with a little oil until the onion is soft and yummy. Crumble in the sausage and cook until done. Add in the beans and the bean juice straight from the side pot (or can, if you don’t have a lot of pots – you’ll just have to bring it all up to warm again, no big deal). Stir madly, then add in the rice. I find it goes easier with the rice if you add it a ladle at a time, and not dump the whole thing in.
Stir it all together, add in the Worcester/soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste, and heat through. When it’s nice and hot, dish it out to either a serving dish or straight onto plates – you need the pan.
Dump the greens in the pan, with all the stuff left over from the hoppin john; bean bits, rice bits, sausage bits, all of it. Bump the heat up a notch and stir the greens around. I like to add the vinegar and lemon juice at this time, oil if I don’t think there’s enough grease in the pan already. I think traditionally, these greens are cooked with bacon fat, but I don’t care enough for bacon to buy it and cook it regularly, so I do it this way. Cook until wilted down and tender. Season if needed, and eat up! Tradition says the hoppin john will bring you luck and the collards will bring you money. The way things are going now, I think I’m going to buy Obama a field of the stuff.
Happy New Year, guys. May every year of your life be better than the one before.
Sometime last month, we decided to do a swap. Basically a care package for each other (and our buns). I shipped my recipient’s package off earlier this week, and today mine arrived! Mine was from a woman in NYC, who is a microbiologist. Here is what she bestowed upon me and the boys:
