A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [118]
One 16-ounce bag dried black-eyed peas, washed and sorted but not soaked
One 10-to 12-ounce smoked ham hock
6 cups cold water (about)
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. Place the black-eyed peas and ham hock in a large, heavy saucepan, then add just enough cold water to cover by 1½ inches. Stir in the salt and pepper, set over moderately high heat, and bring to a boil.
2. Adjust the heat so that the water bubbles gently, set the pan lid on askew (to minimize “boilovers”), and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes or until the beans are soft, almost all the water has boiled away, and the mixture has a porridge-y consistency. Note: If at any point the beans threaten to boil dry as they cook, add a little additional cold water.
3. Drain off any excess cooking water (there should be little, if any), then remove the ham hock, strip off the meat (there won’t be much), and cut into small pieces. Stir the meat back into the black-eyed peas.
4. Serve hot with roast pork, Classic Collards, and corn bread fresh from the oven.
LITTLE HAVANA BLACK BEANS AND RICE
MAKES 6 SERVINGS
Some years ago a Columbia J-School classmate who was working in Miami took me to “Little Havana,” the city’s Cuban quarter, and to an authentic restaurant there. We ordered everything from fried plantains to menudo (tripe) to Cuban bread to black beans prepared this way. Florida cooking has always had a Spanish accent, first because Spaniards discovered and colonized it, second because waves of Cubans arrived—originally to Tampa in 1886 to make cigars, then to Miami in a massive mid-twentieth-century migration to escape the Castro regime.
1 pound dried black beans, washed and sorted
6 cups water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 small green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 large whole bay leaf, preferably fresh
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled
½ teaspoon dried leaf thyme, crumbled
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, or to taste, crushed
2½ cups converted rice, cooked by package directions
1. Place the beans in a large, heavy kettle, add just enough cold water to cover them by 1 inch, and soak overnight.
2. Next day, drain the beans well, rinse, and return to the kettle. Add the 6 cups water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat until the water bubbles gently and cook uncovered for 1 to 1½ hours until the beans are tender. If the mixture seems “soupy,” scoop up 1 cup of the beans, mash, and return to the kettle. Keep the beans warm over lowest heat while you proceed with the recipe.
3. Pour the oil into a large, heavy skillet and set over moderately high heat for 2 minutes or until ripples appear on the pan bottom. Add the onion, bell peppers, garlic, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, cumin, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes, and sauté, stirring often, for about 10 minutes or until limp and golden.
4. Stir the skillet mixture into the beans, cover, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes or just until the flavors marry. Discard the bay leaf. Taste for salt and red pepper and adjust as needed.
5. To serve, divide the rice among six heated dinner plates and ladle the beans on top.
I viewed with pleasure this gentleman’s exemplary improvements in agriculture; particularly in the growth of rice, and in his machines for shelling that valuable grain…
—WILLIAM BARTRAM, TRAVELS OF WILLIAM BARTRAM, ON A