Pulled Pork Sandwich with Hoppin' Johns

Hoppin' Johns is a tradition side dish served all over southern bbq country and there are many recipes. This is a compilation of many we reviewed. All of them are basically a mix of black-eyed peas and rice, with various additional spices. You can start with dry peas or canned ones. We used canned ones. Start by cooking some rice (1/2C uncooked rice) in chicken stock (you could use vegetable stock or water if you wish). Set the rice aside. In a sauce pan, brown 2 strips of diced bacon and remove from the pan. Add to the same pan 1 bay leaf, 2T fresh thyme, 1 clove minced garlic, 2 or 3 chopped green onions, 1 rib of diced celery, 1/2C diced bell pepper, salt and pepper to taste. Saute the veggies until tender and then add 1-14oz can of diced tomatoes. Simmer to allow the spices to come together. Just before serving add the cooked black-eyed peas (1-14 oz can or equivalent) and rice and heat through. We cooked it this way so the peas and rice didn' t get to "mushy". This will serve 4 easily.

The pork for the sandwich was left-over.