Hoppin' John

I learned about this dish from my best friend and his family at the beach house. I have been making it for years. The original recipe (which was a loose set of directions at best) has evolved into what follows. I seldom make it the same twice, but it is always something like the following.

I am including the recipe on today's posting because although we had plenty of wine last night, I do remember Terry asking me for the recipe. So here it is:

Hoppin' John

Ingredients:

1 lb Dried Black Eyed Peas
1 Large Yellow Onion (chopped)
1/2 C Celery (chopped)
1 C Peppers (chopped - I generally use a combination of red, yellow, orange and green)
1/2 lb Sausage (sliced into bite-sized disks - You can use almost any kind, something Andouille or chorizo works well!)
1/2 lb Chicken Breast (cubed and browned)
3-4 Cloves of Garlic (chopped)
1/2 t Black Pepper
1/2 t Red Pepper
Salt
Olive Oil
Corn Starch (They call it Corn Flour over here in the UK)

Method:

Wash and pick over the beans. Once cleared of all debris and defects, soak the beans. The package says over-night, but I have learned from a number of old cookbooks, you can reduce the amount of gas the beans produce by soaking longer and changing the water every twelve hours. I soak my beans for two days.

Chop all the vegetables,

Dice and brown the chicken in a little olive oil,

Slice and brown the sausage,

Drain the beans,

Combine everything but the salt and oil in a crock pot making sure all ingredients are mixed together. NB: I have learned that you should cook beans without salt! Cooking them with salt makes the skins tough.

Cover with water and cook on low for at least eight hours.

Carefully strain the liquid from the crockpot into a large sauce pan and return all the solids to the crockpot.

Correct the flavor of the liquid with salt and more pepper if needed. Bring to a boil and thicken with corn starch to the consistently of gravy.

Return Liquid to the crockpot and keep warm.

Serve with Dirty Rice and a nice red wine. Leftovers can be microwaved the next day.

Enjoy!