OUR UNDER-ESTIMATED BUT OFTEN APPRECIATED RED-BEANS-AND-RICE aka YOUR INTRODUCTION TO CAULDRON COOKING
OUR UNDER-ESTIMATED BUT ALWAYS APPRECIATED RED BEANS AND RICE: My friend Hollie once commented that I really don't cook anything that doesn't involve a large black pot or cauldron, and I think she's right. Pat and I don't make a lot of red beans and rice for recreational consumption. Our argument is, if you're going to spend 4 hours over a hot stove, might as well go all the way and make gumbo. That said, tackling red beans and rice is a great way to ease yourself into cauldron-cooking. Like grits, red beans have a wide margin for error - it's pretty hard to screw them up; they freeze well and they're relatively inexpensive. Plus, you can make them vegan, vegetarian AND KOSHER (thanks for the heads-up, David P). Or you can add sausage and make them... well, you can make them with sausage which is second only to bacon in my book for pork-product goodness. We'd like to recommend the andouille sausage from Schreiner's on 7th Street just north of Osborn in Phoenix - locally owned, all good. A word of warning before we get started: Some people will say you should buy kidney beans, but we prefer small red beans. It'll say so on the bag: "small red beans." I think kidney beans impart a slightly tangier flavor that doesn't merge well with spices, and I think the red beans cook more evenly and quickly, but that's just me. So without further ado...
THIS ACTUALLY COULD BE HEALTHY AND LOW-CALORIE (without the sausage)
Nutritional Information
Servings - About 12
Amount Per Serving: 1 cup of beans, .75 cup of rice)
Calories per Serving: 280
Total Fat (without sausage): 0.4 grams
Total Carbs (without sausage): 56.2 grams
Dietary Fiber: 3.4 grams
Protein: 12.1 grams
TOOLS FOR RED BEANS AND RICE
big pot
small pot
knives
wooden spoon, slotted spoon, spatula, your preferred stirring medium
INGREDIENTS FOR RED BEANS AND RICE - serves about 12 or so
1-2 gallons water
one bag of SMALL RED BEANS
one medium white onion, chopped
two green bell peppers, chopped
three pieces of celery, chopped
4-8 cloves of garlic, diced
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne
OPTIONAL: 1 tablespoon of Blair's Cajun Death Rain. 1 pound of smoked sausage or andouille, grilled and cut into quarter-inch slices.
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING RED BEANS AND RICE
Sort and rinse your beans - make sure you get rid of any rocks. Put your beans in your big pot and cover with 3 inches of water. Allow this to soak for 2 hours. (Drink a beer, make a muffaletta, chop your vegetables, do some laundry). Then, turn stove on high and heat the beans in their water until boiling. Take your slotted spoon or a big measuring cup, and remove about half of your beans. Put them in the small pot and cover (I used to think this was weird, but it ensures that not all of your beans go to mush and I think it's a good practice). Add onions, bell pepper, celery, garlic and parsley to the boiling beans and let them come back to a hard boil. Reduce heat but keep them rolling for about 15 minutes. Add a cup of water and stir well. Let it come back to a boil. Add your spices (including the OPTIONAL Blair's Cajun Death Rain), the reserved beans and if desired, the OPTIONAL sausage. Let it simmer for an hour or two. Just remember to stir it up every 15 minutes or so, and if you feel like the water is getting low or you're scraping sludge off the bottom, add another cup of water and throttle back that heat. If you let the water level get too low, your red beans will take on the consistency of paste. We like ours a little soupy. Serve over fluffy white rice with a side of French bread.
* This recipe was adapted from 'Dat Little New Orleans Creole Cookbook' by Chef Remy.
** We used the SparkPeople recipe calculator to figure out our calorie count!