If you’re a longtime reader of the blog, you’ll know that I love a good peasant stew. And my New Year’s efforts have been a bit over the top.
This year, though, I kind of lost my mind. It started back when I got my last box of Rancho Gordo beans. The box included a bag of “Super Lucky 2017 Black Eyed Peas.” So I knew I’d be making those January 1.
But it also included a bag of Marcellas, white beans named after Marcella Hazan. And in the box was a newsletter talking about cassoulet. So I’ve been thinking about obsessing over cassoulet since then.
Traditionally, it is made with duck fat and duck legs, along with pork belly and pork sausages and ham hocks. The goal of a great cassoulet is to build a deep brown crust on top, with the pork and creamy beans beneath.
But also, cassoulet, though it’s been completely fetishized, is peasant food. My favorite recipe and discussion of the subject is by Kenji Lopez-Alt here. It is still a crazy over-the-top recipe that substitutes gelatin and is specific about how to get that crust without the clay pot or the duck confit. Still, I was going to try it with those Marcella beans. But time passed and it didn’t happen.
As I looked around at black eyed peas recipes, though, I saw the ham hock again. I was settling in on this more simple recipe. Beans, ham hock. I also had four chicken thighs in the fridge that needed to be cooked. And then, at the meat market for the ham hock I asked about garlic pork sausage and found out they make a Christmas sausage ring that has real garlic in it, unlike their year-round sausage ring that uses garlic powder. Well, OK. Give me some of that!
In good peasant fashion, after soaking the beans overnight, I got out a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to use up from the fridge– I didn’t have celery, alas, but I did have a yellow pepper that needed to go. The last recipe I obsessed about was this Vegan Hoppin’ John by Terry Bryant. I went there for my spice mix: paprika, chili powder, red pepper, thyme, oregano, allspice.
I built up the fat with rounds of browning the meats, sauteed the onion and carrot and pepper (and saffron rice– the only mistake, although it did actually give maybe more texture in the end as the rice dissolved more or less over the long cook). Then I put in the beans, covered with broth, and piled the meat back on top. Into a 300 degree oven for 2.5 hours and it was fall-off-the-bone fabulousness. Which we will be eating for several weeks!
I was nervous the smaller beans might not hold up, but they did just fine. In addition to soaking them overnight, I simmered them about 15 minutes while I finished the browning and saute. As Kenji says, if you don’t get the crust right, no one is going to reject the food! And no one rejected this lovely pot of stew.
Hoppin’ John Cassoulet
Ingredients:
1 lb black-eyed peas soaked overnight
1 lb pork belly or heavy slab bacon
2 ham hocks (about 2 lbs)
garlic pork sausage (cut into pieces)
4-6 chicken drumsticks, thighs, or leg quarters
1 quart or more of chicken stock (low sodium)
1 onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 stalk celery diced
red pepper (optional)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cayenne/red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 bay leaves
2 cups cooked rice (or one cup uncooked added when you assemble the stew for the oven)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300 F
In a heavy-bottomed pot brown the meat, starting with the bacon or pork belly. When it is cooked through, remove and add ham hocks to the pot. Brown on all sides. When the pork belly has cooled, chop it into pieces. When browned on all sides (approx 6 min) remove ham hocks to bowl with pork belly. Brown the pork sausage and remove to bowl. Finally, brown the chicken and remove that to the bowl with the other meats. You can remove the chicken skin at this point.
While sauteing the vegetables, simmer the black eyed peas in water. If you’d like, add onion, a piece of carrot, and bay leaf to the beans. In the pot where you rendered the meat, saute the onion, carrot, and celery until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the dry spices and saute another 2 minutes. Add the minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
Add the chicken stock, pour in the drained black-eyed peas, and layer the meats with chicken on top. Push the meat into the broth. Put the pot, covered, in the oven for two hours. Check it after an hour and add more broth if necessary. Push the meat down into the sauce. It should stay saucy to the end.
Cook the last half hour uncovered. Serve alone or over rice.