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Red Beans and Rice 4

Source
Adapted from Red Beans and Rice 1 (source unknown) and http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guys-gumbo-shack--red-beans-and-rice-recipe/index.html
Yield
3-4 servings
Prep info
6 hr soak + 10 min prep + 10 min boil + 3.5 hr simmer + 15 min prep & cook + 15 min simmer
Prep time
6 hours, 10 minutes
Cook time
4 hours, 10 minutes
Time required
10 hours, 20 minutes
Oven preheat
N/A
Type
Mains - Sausage
Status
Edited
Tags
Cajun

Ingredients

  • 225 g dried red beans (rinsed and picked over)
  • water (for soaking)
  • Cooking beans:
  • 1 L water (for cooking)
  • 60 g bacon (raw)
  • 2 peeled garlic cloves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 t Worcestershire sauce
  • Sausage:
  • 2 t canola oil
  • 300 g sliced smoked sausage
  • Vegetables, etc:
  • 2 t canola oil
  • 100 g chopped green bell peppers
  • 110 g diced onion
  • 70 g chopped celery
  • 2 t black pepper
  • 2 t oregano
  • 2 t basil
  • 1 t minced garlic
  • 1 t sugar
  • 1 t dried thyme
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1.5 T red wine vinegar
  • cooked brown rice (for serving)

Method

Rinse and pick over beans, then soak for at least 6 hours or overnight.  

Drain the beans, and dump the soaking water down the drain.

Add 1 Liter fresh water to beans in large soup pot.  Bring to a rolling boil, and let them boil for at least ten minutes.*  Add bacon, whole garlic cloves, bay leaf, and Worcestershire sauce.  Reduce heat to low and simmer.  Continue cooking, uncovered, over low heat until beans are soft and mixture is creamy, about 3 ½ hours.  Stir occasionally. 

Towards end of this cooking time, slice smoked sausage.  In a skillet, heat 2tsp oil.  Brown sausage.  Set aside. 

Heat the other 2 tsp oil if needed.  Add all remaining ingredients (bell peppers, onion, celery, pepper, oregano, basil, garlic, sugar, thyme, and salt) except rice and vinegar (leave beans in their pot); saute until vegetables are soft.  Add to beans with vinegar and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat.

Meanwhile, cook the rice.  Serve bean mixture over rice.

Notes

* IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BOIL THE BEANS FOR AT LEAST TEN FULL MINUTES.  Red kidney beans contain a toxin, Phytohaemagglutnin (Kidney Bean Lectin), in high enough concentrations that it can cause severe gastric upset if the beans are not treated properly.  See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_kidney_bean#Toxicity

SJ Note 12 Aug 2009: This is an amalgamation of two recipes: a traditional slow one and a fast one, designed to be used with canned beans (linked in the source field).  The fast one is nice when you're in a hurry, but I prefer the creaminess of the slow-cooked beans.  But, I like the not-totally-mushness of the vegetables in the faster recipe.  So, I think I've got the best of both worlds here.  It was very yummy, and most of it is gone!

SJ Note 12 Feb 2013: We've had this many times; it is our favorite red beans and rice recipe.  I forgot to soak the beans last night, so I tried just cooking them longer today, and it worked well!  So, a note for the future - what I did: I boiled the beans for 10 minutes, then discarded that water; I put the beans back in the pot with 1.5L water and simmered with the bacon, garlic, bay leaf, and Worcestershire sauce until the beans were soft and creamy.  I forgot to leave it uncovered for part of that, though, so I reckon you could get by with less time (and possibly less water - perhaps 1.25L - I had much reducing to do).

History