I was born and raised in the North, but I spent a good portion of my cooking career down South, in New Orleans and Atlanta. While I prefer the North, especially for the 4 distinct seasons it offers, I came away from my time south of the Mason-Dixon Line with a great appreciation of southern culture and of southern foods. Just like in all regions of the US, southern food is a wonderful mix of native foodstuffs, foods brought to this country by colonists, Native American dishes, and a whole lot of ingenuity. What makes a lot of southern cooking so different, and wonderful is the heavy influence of African accented foods, both directly, in the form of foods eaten by slaves in the early years of our country and indirectly through the filter of the Caribbean. While these influences permeate a considerable bit of southern food it can really be seen the cuisines of New Orleans and in the coastal cuisines of the Carolinas and Georgia.

One of my favorite dishes, found throughout the south, but especially along the coastal areas, is Hoppin’ John, a variation on rice and beans, a dish found throughout the South and Caribbean. In this version, rice is paired with black eyed peas (also known as cowpeas) and bacon or ham. While eaten year round, it is often served on New Year’s Day and is considered a lucky food. As the peas are symbolic of coins, eating the dish is supposed to ensure a posperous year ahead.

Hoppin’ John, like so many great regional dishes, can be a very controversial dish with each family claiming that theirs is the proper way to make it. Some recipes cook the rice and the beans separately and then only combine them at service time, some recipes don’t include tomato, some say that ham is traditional, while others might claim that only bacon or fatback is traditional. I won’t make such claims. I openly admit that my version takes from a number of recipes, incorporating what I like and discarding what I didn’t. Is it “traditional?” Maybe yes and maybe no. It all depends on who you ask. Either way, it is quite tasty.

My wife had never had the dish before so I decided that New Year’s Day would be the perfect time to introduce her to this simple, yet satisfying meal. Served with greens, which are also thought to bring money, if eaten on New Year’s Day, and cornbread, you have a hearty soul satisfying meal

Hoppin’ John
serves 4-6

2 slices bacon, thick cut, diced
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 each bell pepper, diced
4 cups water
1 pound black eyed peas, frozen (if you can’t get frozen the buy dried-soak 1/2 pound overnight then cook until tender but not mushy, about 2 2 1/2 hours, then proceed with the recipe)
2 1/2 – 3 cups Ham, diced
1 each bay leaf
1 can (15oz) diced tomato
1 cup rice
1/2 tsp. black pepper, ground
3/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. cayenne (depending on your tastes)
1/4 tsp. oregano

I a pot combine the bacon and onion. Cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Add the ham, bay leaf, black eyed peas and 3 cups of the water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the rice, tomatoes, remaining cup of water and spices. Season lightly with salt, remember the ham and bacon will bring a considerable amount of salt to the dish. Cook, covered, until the rice is tender, about 15-20 minutes longer. Check the seasoning and add more salt if necessary.

The cold weather is slowly descending upon Wisconsin. While there have been a few days, so far, where we have seen snow in the air, I imagine that it won’t be long before that becomes a regular occurrence. Unlike so many others, I don’t mind the winter, and except for the long drive to work, I rather look forward to the season. I don’t understand people, here in Wisconsin, that spend so much of their time griping about winter. I just want to look at them and say, “You live in Wisconsin, what do you expect? If you hate winter so much then move south!” I guess it’s because I’ve moved around so much, that if I don’t like the weather in a place then I just pack up and move on. Life’s too short to be stuck living in a place you hate half of the year. That’s part of the reason I left the South. Being a Northern boy by birth, I missed the 4 seasons, and hated the hot, humid summers.

As I was saying, before I went off on my rant, winter is just around the corner for us in the North. One of the reasons I know this is the fact that my wife is in soup making mode. Much of it will be destined for the freezer, packaged into small individual portions that she can take to work with her. Her latest soup was a wonderful Split Pea with Ham.

Split Pea soup gets a bad rap, mostly thanks to the movie “The Exorcist.” That’s too bad as Split Pea soup is a hearty, soul warming dish full of flavor. The perfect remedy to ward off the chills and a great way to warm up after a chilly afternoon raking leaves. The other great thing about Split Peas soup is that it is so easy to make.

Split Pea Soup with Ham
1 each Onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 each Carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 pound Dried Split Peas
4 each Ham Hocks
Salt
Pepper

In a large sauce pot melt butter over medium high heat. Add the carrots and onion. Cook, stirring often until the vegetables are just starting to brown. Add the split peas and ham hocks then add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes or until the peas are soft and tender, adding more water if necessary to keep the peas just submerged. Remove the ham hocks and allow to cool. Puree the soup in a blender or better yet with an immersion blender (so much easier!). Thin with a little water if too thick for your liking. Season with salt and pepper and return to the stove, over low heat. Remove the rind (skin) from the hocks and cut away all the meat from the bone. Dice into bite sized pieces and return to the soup. To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with either more finely diced ham or croutons (small cubes of bread sauteed in garlic butter until golden and crispy).

I had forgotten how much I like properly shirred (baked) eggs, until this past Sunday, when I was searching for a simple, yet elegant dish for my wife and I to enjoy for Sunday brunch. I wasn’t in the mood for an omelet and we always tend to do a variation on Benedicts when looking for something a little special so I went digging around in my cookbooks and was reminded of shirred eggs. I hadn’t done something like that in years, so it would be a novel dish for my wife, and better yet, Shirred Eggs is one of those dishes that is just ripe for variations.

At it’s most simple, Shirred Eggs, are eggs that have been placed into a shallow custard cup, seasoned with salt and pepper, and topped with a little butter to help keep the top from drying out, then baked just until the whites are set, but the yolk is still runny. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? Not really. Like a good poached egg, shirred eggs are fine on their own, if not a little bland, but it is when they are part of a dish that they rise above their humble stature and become something almost sublime.

Virtually anything can be used as a base on which to make Shirred Eggs. Some of the more common bases are creamed spinach, various types of hashes, seafood, cooked grains, ham, bacon, other cooked meats and various other vegetables. Just like with omelets, the choice is really limited only by your imagination. Because I was looking for simply elegant this time I reigned the imagination in and created the recipe below, which serves 2. I accompanied the Shirred Eggs with toast and Maple Glazed Bacon, the recipe for which is below also.

Shirred Eggs with Ham & Manchego Cheese
4 each Eggs
1 tsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Yellow onion, finely minced
1/2 cup Ham, finely diced
1/2 cup Tomatoes, finely diced
1/2 tsp. Fresh Tarragon, finely minced
4 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
1/3 cup Manchego cheese, shredded

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.Heat the butter, in a small saute pan, over medium high heat. As the butter finishes melting add the onions and cook without browning. Add the ham and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and tarragon. Heat just to warm the tomatoes then remove from heat. Divide the tomato-ham mixture between 4 small creme brulee cups or ramekins and spread evenly. Crack an egg into each cup or ramekin and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle each egg with 1 Tbsp. of cream. Sprinkle the cheese over top, dividing the cheese evenly among the 4 cups. Bake for 12-14 minutes, checking them after 10. Eggs are done when the whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. Serve immediately as the eggs will continue to cook a little longer.

Maple Glazed Bacon

Take 4 slices of thick cut, smoky bacon and cut them in half. Cook over medium high heat until 3/4 of the way done. Drain on paper towel. Meanwhile remove rendered fat from pan and wipe pan clean. Lower heat to medium low and add the bacon back to the pan. Brush with real maple syrup, flip over and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. After about 1 minute brush other side with maple syrup. Flip over, when time and cook another 2-3 minutes. Remove to a cooking rack, set over a sheet tray, to crisp up. Make sure that bacon is not touching each other as it cools as it has a tendency to want to stick until it cools slightly.