Anyway, David and I have always made Hoppin' John on New Year's Day w/ smoked sausage and turnip greens. As a rule my husband doesn't eat leftovers. If he does it's usually when I have planned to put them another dish. I now have 1/2 a pot of black-eyed peas/Hoppin' John in the refrigerator and David is out of town.
I recently made a dip/spread w/ white beans. It is a vegetarian dish and we LOVED it! We've had it several times since. I had found this Fried Bean Cakes recipe and wanted to try it. I thought it would be a good side since my guys seem to eat beans and like them. This is a great idea of those leftover black-eyed peas from New Year's. We are having them tonight.
Fried Bean Cakes
3 cups cooked and drained (or leftover) beans or black-eyed peas
1 large egg or 2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 small red onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
2 large garlic cloves, very finely minced
1 scallion, chopped
1/2 roasted, peeled, and seeded jalapeno pepper, finely minced
unbleached all-purposed flour
vegetable oil for panfrying
Mix together all of the ingredients except the flour and oil, mashing the beans w/ a fork or by hand. Form into patties, coat w/ flour and fry over medium heat in a small amount of oil until browned, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on each side.
The Hoppin' John's Lowcounty Cooking cookbook recommends a sun-dried tomato mayo for a sauce. I had a prepared Chipolte Mayo in the fridge and used it. Delicious! My cakes had rice (b/c of the Hoppin' John) and I diced up the smoked sausage and added it to the mix. John recommended Shrimp in his cookbook too.
