A Life, Lived: Sunday Slow Soupers # 6: Hopping John Soup

Have you voted in the photo contest? Only 3 days to go!

Four of our trip pictures have been entered in a photo contest run by the good folks at easycar.com. Oh happy day - all four photos are currently in the top 10 out of 371 photos. You can vote for each by clicking here, (remember 10 is a good vote! *smile*) here, here, and here.

Yes, you CAN vote for all four photos.

You can only vote once from any given IP address - this means you can vote once for EACH pic from both at home and at work! If you have two computers networked at home, you can only vote on one of them, however. If you have a Blackberry though, that is a third vote. If you send these links to friends, relatives, or people who bug you with unwanted e-mails - just think of the of votes! It boggles the mind.

Heck, do what I do - vote at every hotel, conference centre, and friend's house in which you find a PC attached to the internet. Don't be shy at all. :-)

It was Shannon's turn to select the soup recipe fo the week. In honour of New Year's she selected a Hopping John Soup. Hopping John is found in most states of the South, but it is mainly associated with the Carolinas. Gullah or Low Country cuisine reflects the cooking of the Carolinas, especially the Sea islands (a cluster of islands stretching along the coats of south Carolina and northern Georgia). Black-eyed peas, also called cow peas, are thought to have been introduced to America by African slaves who worked the rice plantations. Hoppin' John is a rich bean dish made of black-eyed peas simmered with spicy sausages, ham hocks, or fat pork, rice, and tomato sauce. In this case it is turned into a delicious soup.

This African-American dish is traditionally a high point of New Year's Day, when a shiny dime is often buried among the black-eyed peas before serving. whoever get the coin in his or her portion is assured good luck throughout the year. For maximum good luck in the new year, the first thing that should be eaten on New year's Day is Hopping John. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, many southern families toast each other with Champagne and a bowl of Hoppin' John. If it is served with collard greens you might, or might not, get rich during the coming year.

There are many variations to traditional Hoppin' John. Some cook the peas and rice in one pot, while others insist on simmering them separately. In this soup everything is all cooked together - and there is no rice.

The soup is amazing, a bit like french Canadian pea soup although not as thick. We enjoyed the addition of the collard greens which were easy to find here in Canada (shock of shocks). I'll be sure to serve some of this up for good luck on New year's Day. Given how 2008 unfolded, we can all use some good luck in 2009!

Enjoy!

Hopping John Soup

1 onion, chopped in fairly small pieces
1 cup celery, chopped in fairly small pieces
1 T olive oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
2-3 cups diced ham (cut off the ham rind and save)
8 cups homemade chicken stock
2 16 oz. packages frozen black-eyed peas (or use 6 dried peas, soak over night, rinsed, and cooked in water for an hour until they soften)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 bunch fresh collard greens, chopped
pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar, or more to taste
Optional: ham flavor base if needed, see note at end of the recipe

In large frying pan, saute onion and celery in olive oil about 5 minutes, until starting to soften. Add garlic and saute 2 minutes more, then add ham and saute over very low heat 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to large soup pot, add chicken stock, black eyed peas, and ham rinds if available, and cook at very low simmer for one hour.

After soup has cooked one hour, taste for flavoring. Add more water and ham flavor base if needed. Add chopped collard greens and thyme, stir into soup and simmer one hour more, or until black-eyed peas are quite soft. When black-eyed peas are as soft as you want them, remove pieces of ham rind, then use an immersion blender, food processor, or hand masher to partially process about half the soup. You want a mixture of broken and unbroken black-eyes peas, with some thickening of the soup from the pureeing process. Be careful not to over process. Add red pepper flakes and vinegar and simmer 10 minutes more. Serve hot.

(Makes 6-8 servings, recipe created by Kalyn Denny of Kalyn's Kitchen with inspiration from The Gourmet Cookbook.)

Comments

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I'm glad you were able to find collard greens in Canada! I loved this soup and I agree, I hope that it brings us all prosperity and good luck in 2009. Happy New Year!

Posted by: Annie | December 28, 2008 at 06:12 PM