hoppin' Juan

• 1 lb dried black eyed peas
• 1 lb chorizo (spicy Spanish sausage)
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped fine
• 1 orange pepper, chopped fine
• vegetable stock
• fresh garlic, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 serrano peppers (or any other hot variety), seeded and chopped fine
• fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Soak the beans overnight. The next morning, saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil for about 3 minutes, add hot peppers and turn flame off. Drain the beans, place in large crock pot. Add 1 container of vegetable stock plus one container full of water, onions and garlic mixture, and diced peppers, cook on high for two hours, then low for 6+. In the last hour of cooking add chorizo (it will already be cooked) and more liquid if needed. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

The dish: "Hoppin' John", as the bag of beans said, is a mixture of black eyed peas with Italian sausage and parsley. I had scored some great chorizo (Belmond Farms- awesome) and had designs of doing a dish like this before I ever saw the bag of Goya beans. I figured that the only material difference between hoppin' John and my dish was the slight Latin accent (not that kind of Latin) of the chorizo and cilantro instead of the sausage and parsley so I decided that "Hoppin' Juan" would be a good moniker. This was a great dish to come home to on one of the many rainy days that we've had recently and even tasted good cold as leftovers. For thousands of years people of all different cultures have believed that eating some variation of hoppin' John on New Year's Day would bring good luck in the coming year. Here we are at the midway point of this year and I hope that the good luck thing works as well now as it does in January. Have a great second half of 09 everyone!