Hoppin' John - a New Years Thing

But good enough to eat anytime. Hoppin' John is basically just black eyed peas and rice and so it has infinite variations; this is mine. Eat it for luck on New Years Day with collard greens (represent the dollar bills you'll be getting, hoo yeah) and cornbread. Caveat: I eat this every year and I am neither wealthy nor particularly successful in other ways. However. I have a roof over my head & enough to eat, who's to say that isn't because of my New Years Day menu?

You will need:
a bag of frozen black eyed peas
a cup or so of basmati rice
a bell pepper
2 hot peppers, I used one jalapeno, a big one, and one of those long skinny light green ones.
Pick a Peppa sauce - a tablespoonful or maybe 2.
a sweet onion
some celery
2 big slices country ham, cut into chunks, or about 5 slices bacon, ditto the chunks
2 cups chicken broth
a little olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375. Chop up the onion, peppers and celery; saute in the olive oil. Dump the peas & the rice & the meat (if you're using regular bacon you may want to cook it first) into a big casserole dish. Add the sauteed veggies & some pick a peppa & maybe some other herbs, whatever you've got on hand, stir well, add the chicken broth, cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for about half an hour. Take off the foil and finish it for another half hour or until the liquid is all gone. Serve with more pick a peppa. Yum!!