Red Beans and Rice
Ever since our days in Bozeman, where we often ate at Cafe Zydeco, Brooklynne and I have both loved various New Orleans-style foods, so finding a indigenous cookbook was high on our priority list when we visited Ben in LA last September.
We ended up getting Cooking Up a Storm. When Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans, alot of people lost their recipes and cookbooks to water damage. So, the Times-Picayune decided to create and publish a cookbook of recipes that were submitted to its local cooking column over the years. A portion of the profits apparently go toward hurricane relief, and the book came highly recommended by the guy who runs the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (whom Brooklynne and I met when we visited earlier this year--and BTW, he is a big Allen & Son fan), so we bought it.
Monday night, we finally had a chance to try a recipe, and since it was Monday (the traditional day for this dish), we made Red Beans and Rice. Oh man, it was good! I altered the recipe a little for ease by substituting a few ingredients such as bacon instead of smoked ham hock, canned beans for the dry ones, and parsley flakes for the fresh stuff. So I'm posting our version of the recipe after the break.
I usually have a twang of hesitation when I post a recipe out of a book (kind of like when I burn a mix CD), but I think I can justify this because we tweaked the recipe enough, and because once you try this dish, you will want to buy the book for the rest.
***Also, this recipe happens to be dairy and soy free for any nursing mothers who may be interested.***
You will need:
- ~1/2 lb. bacon (more or less to taste)
- 1 yellow onion (chopped)
- 2 stalks of celery (chopped)
- 1 clove of garlic (minced or pressed)
- 1 green bell pepper (seeded and chopped)
- 3 cans of kidney beans (15 oz., drained and rinsed)
- 2 teaspoons creole seasoning salt (more or less to taste)
- 2 teaspoons black pepper (more or less to taste)
- 2 tablespoons of parsley flakes (or fresh parsley if available)
- ~6 cups water (for making both the veggies and the rice)
- ~2 cups of white rice (before cooking)
- 1/4 cup of green onions (just the green part, chopped)
- hot sauce
You can either prep the veggies before you start cooking, or if you're fast, you can chop them while the bacon is cooking. I chopped first and the whole cooking process took about an hour.
- In a deep skillet or large sauce pan, cook about half of a package of bacon to obtain the fatty juices. (substitute a cooking oil for a vegetarian dish)
- Remove and save the cooked meat and add the chopped onion, celery, garlic, and bell pepper. Sautee these veggies in the drippings until slightly tender.
- Return the bacon to the pan and add the beans, seasonings, and about 2 cups of water or enough so that the water comes about 2/3 of the way to the top of the beans and veggies. You maye have to play with water level vs. cooking time to get your prefered consistency. Stir everything togther and simmer uncovered while the rice cooks.
- Start the rice cooking, which should take 20 minutes or so.
- Set the table.
- When the rice is done, mash some of the beans in the veggie mixture to help make the sauce creamier. Brooklynne did this by scooping and pinching small bunches of beans with a pair of tongs. Let the veggies and rice sit for 5-10 minutes to let the sauce that formed in the bean mixture set up a little.
- Serve the beans mixture and chopped green onions over the rice. Add hot sauce to taste.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Red Beans and Rice.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.milestravis.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/567
Leave a comment