Black Eyed Peas & Rice

2026 Marca Relli

My wife proclaimed this morning that eating black eyed peas during the new year was good luck. I had never heard that. She had never heard of black eyed peas. Now I did know about black eyed peas because of some traveling I had done south of the Mason Dixon line when I was a teenager. It was there at a farm near a small town in Eastern Tennessee called Elizabethton, which the locals called “Betsy,” that I first played tic tac toe with a chicken. That’s right.. a chicken. I played 3 rounds with that bird and lost all 3 times.. to a chicken. I complained to the farmer that the chicken always got to go first. The farmer replied “Yes, but remember son.. she’s a chicken.” I had no good come back for that so I left in a huff. Later that night I had a bad dream that a giant chicken was covering me over with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.

It was also there in Tennessee that I first encountered the delights of Southern cooking. Hominy grits, Collard greens, Biscuits with white gravy are just a few that I remember. I remember black eyed peas also but can’t remember now exactly how they were prepared. However, I knew I was going to marry the peas with smokey ham and then slosh it over rice. According to Southern Living magazine, this dish is often referred to as a Hoppin John. Now who wouldn’t want to tuck in to a big steamy bowl of Hoppin John on a freezing cold January day?

For the record, we here in the Stew are lazy so we’re using canned black eyed peas. I’m sure purists will faint upon reading this but if you want to work with dried peas to start, be my guest.

Need This
1 – 15 ounce can of black eyed peas (preferably in seasoned sauce).
1/4 pound of smoked deli ham (like a Virginia ham) sliced a little thick.
1/4 cup each diced onion, celery and carrots.
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock.
1 cup cooked white rice.
Extra virgin olive oil.
Dried Thyme leaves.
Cayenne pepper.

Do This

Drizzle a little olive oil into a medium sized sauce pot.

Add the diced veg to the pot and put a fire under it. Sweat the veg for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Dice up the ham and add it to the pot. Continue cooking and stirring another 5 minutes.

Open the can of black eyed peas and dump it, liquid and all, into the pot.

Add the chicken broth, a few dashes of dried thyme and a pinch of cayenne pepper, stir well.

Reduce heat to low and simmer the black eyed peas for another 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Serve hot over white rice with a little drizzle of olive oil and a good slab of cornbread – if you can get it.

Serves 2. My Cost Approx $ 6.95 total, about $ 3.50 per serving.

Oh, and Happy New Year…Y’all.