Hoppin' John And Collard Greens

This post is from a few years ago (see original post here), but I thought it'd be best to re-hash these two traditional, down-home, Southern recipes to share with you a little luck in the New Year. I'm actually going to fix this for New Year's Eve supper instead of New Year's Day, as it's intended to be eaten. I'm moving January 1, and just don't see myself boiling beans on moving day. May the gods of tradition and ritual forgive me for being a day early, and carry over the good fortune into 2010.

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For a good measure of luck and fortune in the New Year, I always eat Hoppin’ John and collard greens on the first day of January. The green of the collards represents greenbacks and the round, copper-colored black-eyed peas represent coins. With the way my new year is looking, I’m going back to the kitchen for seconds!

Hoppin’ John
Hoppin’ John is traditionally made with ham hocks and served over rice. This recipe skips the ham hocks.

8 ounces dried black-eyed peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt
pepper
2 cups reserved cooking liquid

• Cover beans with water and soak overnight. Strain beans and rinse.
• Cover beans with water and bring to a boil.Simmer for about 1 hour or until beans are tender.
• Drain beans and set aside, but be sure to reserve about 2 cups of the cooking liquid.
• Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes over medium heat.
• Add allspice, cayenne pepper, soy sauce, beans, and reserved liquid to onions and simmer for 20 minutes so the flavors marry.
• Salt and pepper as desired.

Collards
Most recipes for collards call for boiling the greens for an hour or more. I think this is absurd. I’m not sure what you would have left after an hour of boiling other than disgusting, gray mush. The following method yields collards that are green and flavorful with a kick of vinegar and hot sauce.

10 or so large collard leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ cups onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
hot sauce
salt
pepper

• Wash and remove the tough, central ribs of the collard leaves.
• Chop leaves. I find the best way is to roll the whole bunch of leaves and make 1 inch cuts along the length of the roll. Then run the knife through the collards 10 or so times to chop into smaller pieces.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop chopped collards in. Boil for about 5-10 minutes, drain, and set aside.
• Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes over medium heat.
• Add collards and vinegar to onions. Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Sauté for no longer than a few minutes (just enough time to add the seasoning to your taste) and serve.