Hoppin' John Soup ♥

Hoppin' John Soup ♥ AVeggieVenture.com
graphic button small size size 10 For a double-dose of good luck in the new year, try a hearty soup version of Hoppin' John, the traditional food of "good fortune" in the American South. It's packed with lucky black-eyed peas and for extra measure, lucky collard greens too. Low carb and Weight Watchers friendly! graphic button small size size 10

Now's The Time to Shop for Collard Greens!

Check your grocery store this week: it'll be selling big bunches of collard greens, it's a promise. That's because greens, especially collard greens, are traditional for New Years' – who wouldn't mind a little more "green" in the prosperity department?! Hoppin' John is a traditional beans 'n' rice dish, so that makes this Hoppin' John in a soup bowl, with collard greens for good measure.

Soup for the Break Between Christmas and New Year's

Hoppin' John Soup is a great soup for that long pause between Christmas and New Years, the one where we catch our breath and remember what the heavens must call "relaxation". But to be official, serve Hoppin' John on New Years, just to get things off to a good start. It can't hurt and it sure will taste good.

COMPLIMENTS!
graphic button small size size 10 "I made this on New Years and it was wonderful! It was even better the next day!" ~ Walter
graphic button small size size 10 "It was delicious, even forgetting to add the vinegar at the end." ~ Dave

HOPPIN' JOHN SOUP

Hands-on time: 40 minutes
Time to table: 2 hours
Makes 9 cups

8 ounces dried black-eyed peas, rinsed well and picked over
1 ham bone, Note to Vegetarians (see ALANNA's TIPS)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Water to cover

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped (what is a poblano pepper?)
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic

6 cups water (see TIPS)
1 bay leaf
2 carrots, trimmed and chopped into big chunks
1 cup leftover ham, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 pound collard greens, washed well, ribs removed, leaves roughly chopped

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

In a large pot or Dutch oven, bring the black-eyed peas, ham bone and salt to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes until the peas are mostly done. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid (see TIPS). Pick any meat off the ham bone, see if the dog wants the bone, she'll love you forever.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat the olive oil on MEDIUM heat until shimmery. Add the onion, pepper and celery as they're prepped, stirring to coat with fat. Cook, stirring often, until just beginning to turn golden. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute.

In the Dutch oven, combine the 6 cups of water plus 1 cup reserved cooking liquid, the cooked beans and all the remaining ingredients except the apple cider vinegar. Return to a boil and let simmer until the collard greens are cooked (see TIPS re timing).

Just before serving, remove the bay leaf and stir in the vinegar.

Serve with Skillet Cornbread or Foolproof Oven-Baked Brown Rice.

ALANNA'S TIPS
graphic button small size size 10 DA HAM BONE If the ham bone has a lot of meat on it, cut it off and reserve for adding later. Small bits of meat will pick off much more easily once the bone's been cooked with the black-eyed peas, however.
graphic button small size size 10 THE COOKING LIQUID The inspiring recipe called for using fresh water plus just one cup of the cooking liquid. If I had it to do over again, I would use all the cooking liquid, it tasted just so great and wasn't the least bit starchy. I didn't realize until too late but saved it for a pot of chili, one of the best batches I've ever made.
graphic button small size size 10 COOKING TIMING The inspiring recipes says that the collards can take an hour to cook to become tender and I remember other times, with collards, when they took a looong time to cook. This pot, however, was cooked and lusciously tender in fewer than 15 minutes.
graphic button small size size 10 NO SOAKING REQUIRED One more reason to love dried black-eyed peas? They needn't be soaked beforehand and cook up in 30 - 45 minutes.



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QUICK! QUICK! MORE RECIPES WITH THESE INGREDIENTS

beans poblano chiles carrots collard greens ham

TRADITIONAL "LUCKY" FOODS FOR THE NEW YEAR!
FAVORITE RECIPES for BLACK-EYED PEAS & COLLARD GREENS

~ Braised Collard Greens ~
~ New Year's Turnip Greens ~
~ Summer Black-Eyed Pea Salad ~
(really a year-round salad that just tastes like summer)
~ more recipes with beans, lentils & other legumes ~
~ more recipes for leafy greens ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Lucky Black-Eyed Pea Salad ~
~ Lucky Black-eyed Pea Soup ~
~ more New Year's recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

SEASONAL EATING: THIS SAME WEEK ACROSS THE YEARS

New Year's Turnip Greens Cabbage & White Bean Stew Hoppin' John Soup New Year's Soup with Black-eyed Peas & Collard Greens Hot Corn Dip

© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2010 & 2018
Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Worked great. Thanks!

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  2. The new feature is super. I hope that you and your family had a joyous Christmas. Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2011! Keep up the great work!
    I

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  3. Do you think adding a couple handsful of rice would add very much to the WW points? I always liked this dish, but would miss the rice, even tho the collards "in addition" to rice sounds super!

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  4. Anonymous - Great news, thanks!

    Ingrid - Excellent! Happy New Year to you too!

    Anonymous - Great idea! Rice of course adds points but still makes a two-point soup, say, a very healthy food choice.

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  5. Mmm... Thanks for sharing the recipe. It won't be quite as tasty but it can be modified vegetarian by foregoing the ham and bone and using vegetable broth instead. I believe the collard greens and black eye peas can stand on their own.

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  6. Chucky ~ The black-eyed peas and collards will definitely stand on their own. Give it a try!

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  7. Worked like a charm! Congrats! And that recipe is in my file for a definite try!!

    Thanks for all the great stuff that you do!

    Hugs...and a Very Happy New Year to you and yours!

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  8. It worked as planned. I have the recipe and plan to use it. Thanks so much.

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  9. It worked great, I love your site.

    I made the sweet potato/chicken/apple cider stew for our office Christmas party, and our family Chirstmas dinner, and got rave reviews.....

    Thank you thank you, will try this Hoppin John Soup for New Years too.

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  10. Congrats on figuring out how to get the "jump break" to work. Was fine for me, and the soup looks great too.

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  11. Yep, your new look email worked very well with the "Read More" feature. And it is a much better way as far as I am concerned.

    Just a quick question. I am in Australia and I have never heard of a collard green!! What is it like?? Spinach?? Silverbeet? Cabbage?? It cooks for a long time, so it must be a fairly hardy vegetable.
    Thanks for a great site. Love my veggies!! K

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  12. LOVE your site -- and LOVE the new email feature. It is wonderful.
    Your maple-ginger yams are now a dinner staple at our house -- they are my 9-year old's favorite veggie.

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  13. Ginger - You're so welcome, thank YOU for reading!

    Fay - Great news, let us know how it goes!

    Dale - Oh I love the Chicken Cider Stew too! Rave reviews, for sure!

    Kalyn - Thank YOU, Kalyn, for pushing the Blogger team to provide the feature. Persistence pays!

    Anonymous - Hello, Australia! So glad you love your veggies, me too! As for collards, they are what I think of as a 'sturdy green' versus a 'tender green' - this means they aren't good for salads (though young, just-from-the-ground collards might be, I've never seen them however and haven't tried to grow) and can take long cooking to become palatable. Here's more collard info from Wikipedia.

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  14. Perfect recipe for the New Year!

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  15. Alanna, I love this - I've just made it for New Year's Day, taking a few liberties. :)

    I left out the ham bone and cooked the beans with the pressure cooker (5 minutes) in homemade chicken stock. While that was coming up to pressure (and back down), I sauteed the vegetables, then added the ham. Then I dumped in the beans, cooking liquid and all, with a quart of tomatoes, the collards, and about a teaspoon of sriracha.

    There's no rule that says we can't have soup for breakfast, is there? :)

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  16. I made this on New Years and it was wonderful! It was even better the next day! Thank you!!!

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  17. Had the Hoppin John Soup tonight. It was delicious, even forgetting to add the vinegar at the end. I don't think anyone missed it.

    I love your site and recipes. I am on my 3rd round with weight watcher and vow this time to make my goal.

    Look forward to many more great recipes!

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  18. That looks so tasty! Ham lends a lot of flavor to just about anything.

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna