Onion Slices

One of the comfort foods that I love to have is a simple, old, family favorite: red beans and rice. There aren’t many other foods that I can sit down to, meal after meal, like a good pot of red beans! After a wonderful visit with my family, my wife and I decided that we might want to get a regular meal rotation into effect and that the historic “Monday is red beans and rice day” would be the way we want to go.

According to my grandma (“Hello!” *wave*), the family always had red beans and rice on Monday because that was wash day. So much of the help and family was involved, something had to be put on to cook that didn’t require a lot of preparation and oversight. Talking to my uncle (“Hi Uncle Ray!” *wave*), he told me about a time when he worked at running the family Kwik-E-Mart type store, and that was one of the things that they made. Putting the beans on the night before, cooking them up in the morning, and having them ready for people to stop in at lunch was part of his routine. Side note: When we were driving around in Louisiana, it seemed that almost every gas station had fresh cracklins and boudin. It was hard NOT to be eating the whole time we were down there.

Now that the history is out of the way, the point of this post is I want to share the secret family recipe that Julie and I have been using, and a couple of variations that I’ve heard of and tried.

The Basic Pot

1 lb. Smoked Sasuage (cut into ½ in. thick sections)

1 lb. Light Red Kidney Beans

2 cups Diced Onion (about the size of a trimmed pinky nail)

1 tablespoon Salt (I don’t actually measure, I just add a little bit more than I feel it needs)

Put all the ingredients in a crock-pot, fill with water (about 1-2 inches higher than the beans), cook on low for 6-8 hours. Enjoy!

Spice it Up a Little

Everything from “The Basic Pot” plus:

3 crushed cloves Garlic

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 large bay leaf

1 heaping teaspoon Tony’s (Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning for the un-initiated) or more, to taste

This spices things up a bit. Adding the Tony’s can give it a bite and the cinnamon gives is something of an exotic flavor. This is where I love to experiment! I’ve used everything from cumin to rosemary to  Worchestershire sauce. It’s hard to make this dish inedible (to me) but there ARE combinations I won’t try again.

Getting a Little Fancy

This is a little different, for someone who wants to make the meal an EXPERIENCE. One of the things that’s different about this recipe is the blending of the canned beans. Often times, the pot of red beans matures and is best by the second or third serving, after multiple cycles of reheating. A way to get close to the same result is start off with some bean-insides chopped up and floating around making a thick sauce from the start. At least, that’s the theory.

1 lb Light Red Kidney Beans (dried)

1 can (16-20 oz) Light or Dark Red Kidney Beans

1 small Ham Bone (about 2-3 lbs. Look for about 1 lb. of meat)

3 crushed cloves of Garlic

2 cups Diced Onion (about the size of a trimmed pinky nail)

1 cup Diced Bell-pepper (about the size of a trimmed pinky nail)

½ cup Chopped Celery (you can add more, but I don’t like it!)

On to the HARD PART!

1.       Soak the dry beans overnight (at least 4-6 hours) and drain

2.       In a food-processor, blend the canned beans until chunky sauce

3.       Take the ham bone and put on a broiler pan and place in the oven at 200 degrees for about 2 hours

4.       Take 2 tablespoons ham bone drippings from the bottom of the broiler pan and put them in a large pot on medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of flour to the drippings and heat while stirring constantly until chocolate brown. (This is called a roux, the basis for a LOT of Cajun and southern cooking. It’s really easy to mess up and overcook it, so save lots of the drippings in case it burns or turns bitter)

5.       As soon as the roux is the correct color, add the aromatics (onion, celery and bell-pepper, or the “holy trinity”) and garlic, and sauté until the onion starts to go “clear” (or translucent for you geeks out there).

6.       Add blended beans, soaked beans, ham bone and enough water to cover everything and bring to a boil.

7.       Once boiling, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 2-4 hours, until the beans are tender and the meat is falling off the ham bone, stirring every once in a while.

8.       Cook some rice and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I couldn’t remember if the roux was 1:1 or 1:2, so I looked it up at this link. The rest of this recipe comes from me making some of it up on the spot, and some things that I’ve read about from other recipes. There are a LOT of them out there, and I do not want to take credit from where it’s due.