RED BEANS AND PORK CHOPS

Steps:

• Place the red beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Alternately, you could bring the beans and water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Once boiling, turn off the heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour. Drain and rinse before using.
• Place the soaked beans into a large pot, and cover with 1/2 inch of water. Stir in the onion, garlic, bay leaf, crab boil, celery salt, and red pepper flakes. Nestle the smoked ham hock deep into the beans. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the beans are mostly tender, about 1 hour.
• Uncover the beans, remove the ham hock, and stir well. Add the tomatoes, if using. Place the pork chops into the pot and cover with beans. Increase the heat to medium, and simmer until the pork chops are no longer pink in the center, the beans are completely tender, and the mixture has thickened a bit, about 20 minutes.
• While the pork chops are cooking, remove the meat from the ham hock and shred into bite sized pieces. Stir the ham hock meat into the beans and season with salt and pepper before serving.