Hopping john

10 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
4 Strips bacon
½ cup Raw rice
¼ cup Onion
2 cups Water
2 cups Fresh Blackeye Peas
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Dice bacon. Add onion and fry until bacon is crisp. Add peas and rice, then water. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes or until rice is tender. ( I *ALWAYS* add a good sized shake or two of Louisiana Hot sauce (NOT Tabasco, there is a difference) Yields 10 servings

This is the basic recipe (from Southern Living) It can be adjusted in several ways:

1) substitute ham hocks for bacon by boiling them in the 2 C water until the meat comes off the bone. Fry onion in bacon grease until yellow. Or use any fatty pork meat: trimmings from a roast or chops, "fat-back", etc

2) I prefer Purple-Hull Peas over the Black-eyes, But if you don't know the difference (or can't find them) it's not a big deal. It is important to use fresh peas, frozen if you have to...if you can only get canned or dried peas, nevermind and fix something else.

3) I discovered a secret to Southern style cooking: Cavender's Greek Seasoning. Put a little of it in everything, along with the Louisiana Hot Sauce makes everything taste better. This is what I would do for the greens as a regular family dinner. Later I'll get out the company recipe.

BTW Southern Living is *the* Soutern magazine and has the best recipes for regional favorites. They also put out an annual cookbook which includes all the recipes for the year. If I keep osting them here y'all see that this book is a very worthwhile purchase.

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