"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
Melt bacon drippings in large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium low heat. When hot add the onion, bell peppers, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally for 3 to 4 minutes or until onions are translucent.
Add 6 cups water and bring to a boil. Add ham hock and peas. Cook 30 minutes stirring occasionally. If the ham hock is not completely submerged, turn over a few times while cooking. (Add additional water as needed during most of the cook time.)
While the ham hock is cooling, add the chopped greens (if using) to the peas and continue to simmer.
Return the ham hock meat to the peas and discard the bone and fat. Remove from heat and serve.
To serve, scoop some rice into a bowl. Top with the Hoppin Johns. Top with a few dashes of pepper sauce*.
Black-eyed peas – Frozen peas work great, but if you have time, dried peas are best in my opinion. If using dried peas, brine for 4 hours in a brine of 1 Tbsp. salt and enough water to cover the peas and them some. Once brined, you can either pressure cook the peas with the ham hock until “almost” done (medium for about 8 minutes) or cook the peas with the vegetables using the same timing and instructions as the recipe.
Canned black-eyed peas can also be used; however, because they are already cooked, they should be added during the last 10 minutes of cook time. In other words, cook the ham hock and vegetables with the seasoning for about 50 minutes, then add the canned black-eyed peas and cook another 10 minutes.
Ham Hock – If you can’t find smoked ham hock, you can substitute with andouille sausage, using both sausage and smoked ham. We've made this with andouille many times and it's excellent.
Vegetarian or vegan version – There are a couple of ways to make Hoppin’ John vegetarian/vegan. I’ve cooked dried peas in the pressure cooker with 2 Tbsp. chipotle paste and the rest of the ingredients (vegetables and seasoning) and it turned out pretty darn good. You can also substitute the meat with a vegetarian sausage. I’ve never tried it, but I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be good.
Serve with Buttermilk Cornbread
Leftovers– One of the things we like to do with the leftover peas and cornbread is to cut up some of the cornbread in a bowl and smother it with the black-eyed peas. Add a few dashes of pepper sauce and you have another delicious meal!
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen