Healthier Black Eyed Peas Aka Hoppin John From Glamour Magazi Food

HEALTHIER BLACK-EYED PEAS (AKA HOPPIN' JOHN) FROM GLAMOUR MAGAZI

Steps:

• Sort thought the peas, discarding any shriveled ones. Place peas in a large pot, covering them with at least 2" of water and soak for 4-6 hours or heat to boiling over high heat, remove from heat and allow to soak for 2 hours. Using either method, drain after soaking.
• Place onion, carrots and garlic in food processor and pulse to achieve a medium to fine dice. Tie parsley sprigs together with kitchen twine or dental floss.
• After soaking and rinsing, place peas, onion, carrots, garlic, and parsley bundle into a clean pot. Add 12 cups of water, 2 teaspoons of the salt and half of the thyme and sage. Over high heat, heat to boiling reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the other half of the thyme and sage. and continue cooking until done, about 15 more minutes.
• When done, remove the parsley bundle. Decant the water into a bowl and measure, adding additional water to make 3 cups if necessary. Use this water to cook the rice, making it "dirty."
• While the peas are cooking, make the vinaigrette by combining the oil, vinegar, salt, minced parsley, 1 teaspoon salt and hot pepper flakes in a small bowl or jar. Mix to combine and pour onto the peas while still warm, stirring to blend.
• Serve over the dirty rice with the ham on the side. Put the hot sauce of your choice on the table.

HOPPIN' JOHN -- RICE AND BLACK-EYED PEAS

Steps:

• In a 4 qt or pan brown bacon and cook onion in bacon grease until the onion is transparent. ** For vegan, omit bacon and use approximately 1/4 cup of vegetable oil to cook onion.
• Add uncooked rice, black eyed peas (with juice) and water to your bacon onion mixture. Mix well. **For vegan add liquid smoke at this point to replace the smoke flavor that would have been added by the bacon.
• Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium.
• When the tops of the bursting bubbles of boiling water are all of the liquid that can be seen above the rice, remove the pan from the heat and cover.
• Wait at least twenty minutes, WITHOUT PEEKING!
• Don't do it. You'll loose precious heat and steam.
• Serve with bread of your choice, or with the veggies of your choice and plenty of hot sauce. Of course, the variety of hot sauce you choose will depend on your tolerance for heat. If you would like, this could be served as a side dish, as well.