Red Beans and Rice
I am by no means from the south – unless you count southern California – but this recipe warms me up from the inside out. It’s a combination of strong flavors in a big wet mess that you reduce down to a concentrated package of goodness. Take Cajun spices, southern mirepoix, red beans, and a bunch of meat and cook it until it all comes together as pure flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 lb small red beans, rinsed and picked over
- 4 or more slices bacon (GOOD BACON!), chopped
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1-2 celery ribs, diced
- 3 or more cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
- 1 tsp paprika (smoked or sweet, depending on your taste)
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- Ground black pepper
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 6 cups water
- 2 andouille sausages (at least 8 ounces), cut in half lengthwise then into ¼-inch pieces
- 1 tsp red-wine vinegar
- 3 scallions, sliced thin
- Rice to serve
Start the day before if you can and put the beans in a pot with four quarts cold water and three tablespoons of salt. Let the beans sit overnight. If you don’t have that kind of magical patience, do a quick brine and put the water and salt together with the beans and bring to a boil then let it sit for an hour with the heat off. The better method is the long brine but you’re not a sociopath so you didn’t do that kind of legwork ahead of time. Remember to do it next time.
Now we’re ready to go, put the bacon in a large Dutch oven and bring to medium heat. Cook and stir occasionally until the bacon starts to get crispy and there’s a bunch of fat in the pot, about 10 minutes. Add the onion, green pepper, and celery and cook until soft, about 7 minutes or so. Add in the garlic, thyme, bay leaves, cayenne, paprika, and a bunch of black pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in the beans, broth, and water and bring to a boil (this will take long enough you’ll second-guess many life choices). This may appear to be way too much liquid but be calm, we’re going to simmer this liquid down and all the flavor will be imparted into the final dish in this phase. Patience is a virtue. Jesus would fail this part of the recipe. After it’s boiling, bring it to a vigorous simmer by lowering the heat. Now you go do something else, call your mom, watch basketball, watch Criminal Minds, just do what you do. It will simmer over the next hour or so. Check on it periodically.
Stir in the sausage and vinegar and keep letting it simmer for another 30 minutes or so. It will get thicker and more irresistible. STAY CHASTE! Resist the urge to eat it while all of this happens. You want it to look like beans swimming in a beautiful red/brown gravy. Keep tasting and once it’s to your desired thickness, turn off the heat. Let it sit a minute, serve it over rice and garnish with scallions, hot sauce, or whatever else you have up your sleeve you wily scoundrel.
