Welcoming the New Year

Even though I've never lived in the south, I've adopted the tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. I use a recipe from Diana Shaw's book, Vegetarian Entertaining, which combines the peas with brown rice and smoked cheese for a protein-rich comfort food dish that helped ease us into 2013.

(I'm sure true Southerners would blanch at calling this decidedly untraditional dish hoppin' john.)

I used dried black eyed peas that I buy at the Hollywood Farmers Market. I find they cook in about the same time as the brown rice so I don't pre-soak them. If your beans are older, soak them overnight or for a few hours in cold water, then drain them before adding them to the pot. I suppose you could use canned beans, stirring them in at the end to cook through, but I'm not sure the flavor would be as good.

The color comes from a roasted red pepper. Since pepper season is finished here in southern California, I pulled a roasted pepper from my freezer. Each fall when organic peppers are overflowing at the Tutti Frutti stand, I buy dozens to roast and freeze. (Click here for my post on roasting peppers.) They defrost well for any cooked dish, and have that great roasted flavor.

For the liquid I used one cup of my roasted vegetable stock and 3 cups water.

The final touch is the smokiness of the cheese stirred in at the end. Diana calls for smoked mozzarella, but I prefer smoked firehouse Mike cheddar from the jersey cows at Spring Hill Organic Farm (sold at the Hollywood Farmers' Market). It adds a little kick along with the smoke.

With this gooey, soft dish (which Larry says is very hard to photograph attractively), I served Brazilian-style collard greens and an Indian flatbread. Later we sat by the fire with port and stilton, and felt very well-fed by vegetarian dishes from around the world.

Hoppin' John
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp oil
1 large red pepper, roasted, seeded and chopped
1 cup black-eyed peas, picked over and rinsed
1 cup long-grain brown rice, rinsed
4 cups water or vegetable stock
1/3 cup minced parsley
3/4 cup diced smoked cheese

In a large pan, sauté the onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in the red pepper, black-eyed peas, rice and water or stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over low heat until the beans and rice and cooked through, 45-60 minutes. Add liquid if needed. If the beans and rice are cooked and too much liquid remains, remove the lid and cook until it evaporates.

(It can sit off the heat now until you're ready to eat. Reheat gently before stirring in the cheese.)

Stir in the parsley and cheese. Serves 6.

Reheats well and makes great leftovers.