Hoppin’ John Recipe

Last weekend, after feasting on fifteen intricate and gorgeous courses prepared by chef Curtis Duffy at Avenues Restaurant in Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel, I am having a difficult time blogging about my simple peasant food. The meal there was a work of art and an inspiration, and I will post about it as soon as I have gathered my thoughts about its fabulousness, but in the meantime, I’ll get back to the simple and practical basics. Here goes.

I make this bastardized version of Hoppin’ John frequently when the weather begins to turn cooler. It is easy to make, filling and flavorful, and goes well with the sweet potato-pecan biscuits I posted about a couple of weeks ago. I use bacon instead of ham hock (but this could be a tasty vegetarian dish without either), and I generally skip the rice, but with it, or with another carbohydrate, this makes a filling and nutritious meal. Playing off the typical Southern New Year's meal that's purported to bring luck and money, I add the collard greens directly to the Hoppin' John, instead of cooking the greens separately. I prefer it this way, stirring the greens in at the last minute, as the greens keep their integrity and don't end up mushy and over cooked. This stew is easy to pack up in a container to heat up for lunch, make as spicy as you like, and change the vegetable choices around according to what’s available.

This one-pot meal is inexpensive to make, and the counter to last Friday's decadence. Last week I was sipping champagne with good friends at the chef’s table in the lovely Peninsula Hotel, was waited on by a professional and attentive staff, and had a meal prepared for me by one of the most talented chefs in the city. Lucky girl. Now it’s back to my tiny kitchen, a few pots, and my artists’ budget. Good and simple Hoppin’ John sure makes me appreciate the very occasional truffles and Wagyu beef...

Hoppin’ John Recipe

2 cups dried black-eyed peas, soaked in water overnight
6 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 large clove of garlic, minced
4 large Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped, about 2 cups (or 1 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes)
6 cups of water
2 bay leaves
1 bunch of collard greens, chopped into medium-sized pieces
cayenne pepper, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
scallions, chopped, for garnish

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the bacon, and cook until slightly browned.

Remove the bacon from the pot, keeping the bacon fat to cook the onion. If there is not enough fat in the pan, add a little vegetable oil. Cook the onion until translucent.

Add the carrots and the celery stalks, and cook until soft, but not mushy. Stir in the tomato paste, and cook for a minute or so. Add the garlic, the tomatoes, the water, and the bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the beans are tender, and the vegetables are cooked.

Stir in the collard greens, and cook until wilted.

Add cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. (I sometimes like Tabasco sauce in this, so feel free to add it, if you like.)

Serve over rice, or with sweet potato pecan biscuits, or both.

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Sweet Potato-Pecan Drop Biscuits Recipe

After I left Merce Cunningham’s dance company, I went to culinary school. The final part of our instruction entailed an internship at a restaurant, and since I had work in Chicago for a few months staging a piece of Merce’s, I decided that I’d like to work for a Chicago-based chef. I did a little research, and found Grant Achatz, molecular gastronomist, and now of Alinea Restaurant fame, who was then the chef at Trio restaurant in Evanston, Illinois.

There is a restaurant camaraderie that doesn’t exist in most jobs. Forced to spend hours and hours together, and work through stressful situations, an easy closeness develops in a short period of time. At 34, I was the oldest person, and only woman in the kitchen, and what might have been a recipe for disaster, turned out to be a wonderful experience. The chefs encouraged me, respected me, and guided me through the difficult work of a Mobil guide five star restaurant, one of only 13 in the country at the time.

Soon after beginning at Trio, chef Achatz sent me into the pastry kitchen to work under chef Curtis Duffy, now chef de cuisine at Avenues in Chicago’s Peninsula hotel. Immediately intimidated by his knife skills while watching him swiftly cut papaya into perfect brunoise (1/8 inch x 1/8 inch x 1/8 inch cubes), I was nervous to do much of anything for fear of messing up, but Curtis’s welcoming nature helped me to feel part of the kitchen, and he and another talented chef, John Peters, became my friends.

Chef Curtis has been asking me to come to Chicago to eat at his restaurant for awhile now, and next weekend I’m finally going. John Peters and I will be joined by two other friends, and we’ll sit at the chef’s table with a view of the action in the kitchen. Curious to eat chef Curtis’s highly acclaimed food, which I will surely discuss here afterward, I am also interested to see the interaction of the people in the kitchen, and hope they are learning as much and having as much fun as I did.

Sweet Potato-Pecan Drop Biscuits Recipe
from Peter Berley’s, The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen

1 1/2 cup shelled pecans, roughly chopped
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (about 3 cups)
1 cup water
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup or honey
2/3 cup olive oil, unrefined corn oil, or melted unsalted butter (I use olive oil)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose or white bread flour (I use flour with the germ intact)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cut cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 teaspoons freshly milled black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly oil 2 baking sheets.

2. Spread the pecans on an ungreased baking sheet and toast in the oven for 8 minutes. Transfer them to a bowl to cool.

3. Steam the sweet potatoes until tender.

4. In a blender, combine the water, sweet potatoes, vinegar, oil, and maple syrup. Puree until creamy. Alternatively, pass the potatoes through the medium disk of a food mill into a bowl, then whisk in the water, vinegar, oil, and maple syrup.

5. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper.

6. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the sweet potato mixture and the pecans. Do not over mix -- a few lumps won’t matter, and you will wind up with lighter, fluffier, biscuits.

7. Drop the dough 1/2 cup at a time 2 to 3 inches apart on the baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets for even browning. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a biscuit comes out clean.

8. Serve warm.

Yield: 1 dozen biscuits.

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Coconut Curry Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe (Curry Mee)

When I was in college, I skipped breakfast, ate popcorn and diet coke for lunch, and made tuna fish sandwiches or pasta with red sauce for dinner. It’s a wonder I’m still alive. My students at Juilliard are fortunate to receive nutrition counseling, and I am impressed to see them eating fruit, yogurt, and nuts between classes (protein and carbohydrates are necessary for muscle recovery, especially immediately after exercising), and from tupperware containers packed with leafy greens, sweet potatoes, lean meats or beans, and whole grains for their main meals.

The following recipe is for my former student Doug, who lives in Israel now. Doug is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School, an excellent dancer, and is making his way as a young member of the Batsheva Dance Company. He wrote to me a while ago saying that he is interesting in expanding his culinary repertoire, and that a recipe he made for coconut curry from The Joy of Cooking was lacking. Actually, what he said was, “I just made a chicken coconut curry recipe from The Joy of Cooking and it sucked.  Edible but uninspiring.”

This one doesn’t suck. It is from the New York Times, and has been tested by them and by me, more than a few times. Forget conventional chicken noodle soup; to me, these complex, spicy citrus flavors are the ultimate comfort when autumn arrives. Enjoy, Doug; this is heaps better than a tuna sandwich for dinner, and more fun to make, too.

Coconut Curry Chicken Noodle Soup (Curry Mee): a recipe from the New York Times located here.

Note from Banu: This time I poached a whole cut-up chicken for 45 minutes in a couple of big pots of low-simmering water infused with some cilantro stalks, a few crushed garlic cloves, some curry leaves, and a sliced up onion. I removed the chicken pieces, shredded the meat as I picked it off the bones, and returned the bones to the simmering broth for about another hour and a half. I strained the stock, used half of it for the soup, and froze the other half for another use. Since the chicken was already cooked, I added it at the last minute, along with the noodles. I like this soup with chicken, but I am sure this would be fantastic with some shiitake mushrooms and tofu, for a vegetarian version.

I ate little bits of this soup all week, so cooked the noodles (I used mung bean noodles this time) at the last minute, so they wouldn’t get soggy. Also, I garnished with sunflower sprouts instead of bean sprouts, and I forgot to garnish with the cilantro for the picture, but it's a lovely addition to the flavors of this soup.

Time: 45 minutes

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced lemon grass or pale green cilantro roots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dark red chili paste, such as sambal, more for serving
3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken thigh or breast meat, thinly sliced and cut into bite-size pieces
3 tablespoons curry powder, preferably Malaysian, Thai or Vietnamese
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 can (14 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup half-and-half
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar, more to taste
About 12 kaffir lime leaves or curry leaves, fresh or frozen (optional)
8 ounces dried thin rice noodles (bun or vermicelli), or other Asian noodles such as udon or lai fun
Salt to taste
1 cup bean sprouts
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 scallions, cut into thin rings
2 shallots, thinly sliced and deep fried in vegetable oil until brown (optional)
Quartered limes for serving.

1. Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onion, ginger and lemon grass and cook, stirring, until softened, about 10 minutes. Do not brown; reduce heat if necessary. Add garlic and chili paste and stir until fragrant. Raise heat, add chicken and stir-fry one minute. Add curry powder and paprika and stir to coat. Then add coconut milk, half-and-half, chicken stock, turmeric, fish sauce, sugar and lime or curry leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 7 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cook rice noodles in boiling water according to package directions (about 4 minutes). Rinse and drain.

3. Taste broth and adjust seasonings with salt and sugar. Divide noodles into large soup bowls. Bring broth to a boil, then ladle over noodles. Top with bean sprouts, cilantro, scallions and fried shallots, if using. Pass limes and sambal at the table.

Yield: 4 main-course servings.

Note: To make this rich soup more substantial, boiled potatoes are sometimes added to the simmering broth and cooked until very soft.

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