Red Beans and Rice

     Red Beans and Rice.

This is another refugee recipe ideas stolen then tweaked from the CreateTV cooking shows. This Cajun staple as I understand it has a lot of fairly specialized ingredients not typically availability to us mere mortals. So the Cooks Country folks made some substitutions. I added my own tweaks to make it even “mo betta, Cher” I hope you enjoy, we sure did.

 

 

 

Ingredients

Beans:
1 lb. small red beans (Brine = 3 Tbs Kosher Salt + 3 Qt. of water)
6 slices good smoked bacon, rough chopped
16 oz good andouille sausage cut to bite sized pieces
1 med yellow onion, finely chopped
1 pablano pepper, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1 tsp of smoked paprika
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp each, black and cayenne pepper
1 tsp Thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
3 cups chicken broth
6 cups of water
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 tsp of vinegar (red wine is fine or even apple cider)

Rice:
2 cups long grain rice (rinsed until water runs clear)
3 cups water
1 Tsp Butter
1 tsp Kosher salt

Garnish:
Scallions, Chopped fine
Louisiana Hot Sauce of choice, to taste.

Directions

  1. The day before you plan to serve your beans, Wash them well and place in a large container and cover with salt and water. Brine your beans for at least 8 but 24 hours is “mo betta”.
  2. In a large pot, brown the bacon and then add onion, pablano and celery and stir until onions are clear. (6 or 7 minutes0
  3. Add paprika, black and cayenne pepper, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves. Stir in until fragrant (~30 seconds)
  4. Add beans, chicken broth and water and bring to a boil
  5. Reduce heat to a vigorous simmer for ~45 minutes.
  6. Stir in sausage, Sriracha and vinegar and cook at vigorous simmer for 30 more minutes until done.
  7. In another sauce pan, melt butter and sauté the rice until it begins to become translucent.
  8. Add 3 cups of water to the rice and bring to a boil; Reduce heat to low and cover.
  9. Simmer rice on low until all water is absorbed )17-19 minutes). Uncover and set aside for 15 minutes to finish.

Serve the beans over the rice with chopped scallions and some Louisiana hot sauce for the Cajuns in the crowd.