Sunday, January 5, 2014

Red Beans and Rice



Continuing with my cajun kick, I made Red Beans and Rice today.  My mom's cousin, Bob, gave me this recipe and he credited Emeril with it.  You can find Emeril's original recipe here.  Bob had altered it just slightly, and naturally, I altered it more.

Due to time constraints, I typically make a double batch of Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice and add andouille sausage.  While more "authentic" red beans and rice has a red bean thick sauce poured over white rice, we like it all mixed together like Zatarain's, so that's what I did.  Feel free to make your rice separately if you like.  If you do, I'd subtract one cup of water from this recipe.

1 pound dried red beans, rinsed and sorted over, or 5 cans of red beans
3 tablespoons of bacon grease
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon (2 if you like it hot!) cayenne pepper
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1/2 lb andouille sausage, split in half lengthwise and cut into pieces
2 smoked ham hocks
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
7 cups water/chicken stock (I used water and added some chicken bullion)
minute rice

Place the beans in a large bowl of pot and cover with water by 2 inches.  Let soak 8 hours or overnight. Drain and set aside. If you use canned beans, skip this step, but be sure to drain the beans anyway.

In a large pot, heat bacon grease over medium-high heat.  Add onions, celery, and bell peppers to the grease. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and cook, stirring, until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.  Add bay leaves, parsley, thyme, Cajun seasoning, sausage, and ham hocks, and cook, stirring, to brown the sausage and ham hocks, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute.  Add the beans and stock/water, stir well and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, at least 2 hours (the longer the better!).  If it gets too thick, you can add water, 1/4 cup at a time.

After about 2 hours, remove ham hocks.  Let them cool enough that you can handle them. Cut through the skin and fat. Remove and chop ham from hocks and return to pot.

With a spoon smash some of the beans against the side of the pot.  This will help thicken and make it more "creamy."

Finally, add 1 1/2- 2 cups minute rice.  Put the lid on, and remove from heat.  After 10 minutes, stir and serve!

Serve with hot sauce (if that's your thing!)

This was SO good.  I definitely liked it better than the box mixes I typically make, but it does take quite a bit of time.  The good news is that this is a pretty big batch so it makes leftovers.  Cajun is always better the next day!

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