Laundry Day
Mondays in the South (also considered Laundry Day) have been traditional days to prepare Red Beans and Rice. This dish is super easy to prepare and once mastered, can sit on the back burner of your range and cook slowly for most of the day. For me it’s comfort food. We no longer have a standard Laundry Day, so I cook Traditional Red Beans and Rice when it’s cold outside or when I’m just craving the flavor. Recently, I made this before shoveling snow for two hours. Words fail to describe how good the house smelled when I came back in.
Delicious Traditional Red Beans and Rice. Serve with a side of Corn Kits Cornbread or toasted garlic bread. I typically don’t make red beans and rice spicy, preferring to offer an assortment of Louisiana style hot sauces on the side along with extra green onion and gumbo filé.
Start by cooking 3-4 strips of smokey bacon in the bottom of heavy pot or pressure cooker.
While the bacon is cooking, dice your aromatics. Start by measuring out the diced onion.
Measure out the diced celery.
Dice a green bell pepper (traditional) by first removing the stem, pith and seeds. I prefer to chop up a fresh poblano since it has more flavor.
Scallions are essential for red beans and rice. Measure out 1 cup of scallions to cook at the beginning, and another cup to add at the end.
Good red beans and rice has a healthy amount of chopped garlic.
Once the bacon has cooked, remove it from the pot and reserve. The bacon drippings give an excellent flavor to the beans.
Reserve the bacon. Once it has cooled, chop the bacon to add later in the cooking process.
While the pot is still warm from cooking the bacon, add the onions (white and green), celery, green pepper, garlic and seasoning (thyme, oregano, filé powder, cayenne, salt & black pepper). Sauté until the vegetables are tender or just cooked.
Add the ham to the pot and stir to incorporate.
Clean and rinse the red beans before you use them. Pick through to ensure there aren’t any foreign objects like pebbles or stones. Many beans are sold as raw agricultural products, so be sure they are cleaned thoroughly. If you are not sure how old the beans are, soak them overnight in water, in a covered plastic container placed in the refrigerator. This will help soften them during the cooking process. While optional, I do like the taste of bay leaf with the beans.
Add enough stock to completely cover the beans. Also add the reserved chopped bacon. Cook the beans following the instructions on your pressure cooker or if cooking them on a stove top, bring them to a boil first and then reduce to a simmer for at least 2 hours or until tender. Cover the beans with a tight-fitting lid while they cook. (I used my pressure cooker set on high for 40-45 minutes with great results.) Remember to remove the bay leaf after cooking.
Towards the end of the cooking process, test the beans one at a time to determine if they are soft enough. Once they are soft and cooked through, measure out 1 cup of the cooked beans with juice and add to a blender. Red beans are a good source of fiber and starch. The natural starch will act as a thickening agent to the pot of beans.
Add the 1 cup of cooked pureed beans back into the main pot of beans and stir to mix them in.
After adding the pureed beans back to the pot, slice 1 lb. of pre-cooked andouille sausage, another 1 cup of green onion, and cleaned/chopped parsley. Add all of these ingredients to the red beans.
Since this andouille sausage is precooked, simply warm everything before serving. At this time, I will make my side of rice, and add a side of cornbread or garlic bread. It’s a hearty and satisfying meal.
Pack a small ramekin full of rice and turn in out into the center of a serving bowl. Spoon the Traditional Red Beans around the rice and garnish with more green onion and crumbled cornbread. Few delicious foods do a better job of warming you up on a cold day. Serve with your favorite cornbread/garlic bread, hot sauce and gumbo filé on the side.
Wine pairings:
Pinot Noir, 2018 Nuits Saint Georges, France
Super CUVÉE, 2017, Napa Valley, CA
Traditional Red Beans and Rice
Equipment
- pressure cooker (optional)
- large heavy bottom pot, cast iron or porcelain cast iron are perfect (if not using a pressure cooker)
- cutting board
- chef knife
- measuring spoons and cups
Ingredients
Red Beans
- 1 lb red beans washed, cleaned and soaked overnight covered by water in the refrigerator. (Discard soaking water before use)
- 3-4 strips smoked bacon, (cooked in the pot to be used for beans), removed and chopped to add back midway in the cooking process (Extra smokey or double smoked bacon works best if you can find it.)
- 1 cup onions, white or yellow diced
- 1 cup celery stalks, diced
- 1 cup green pepper, diced (Green bell pepper is traditional, but I prefer fresh poblano pepper)
- 2 cups green onion, finely sliced and divided in half cup portions + more for garnish (1 cup during cooking and 1 cup after cooking)
- ¼ cup garlic, minced
- 2 whole bay leaf (optional) (1 Tbsp ground bay leaf powder works as well)
- 1 tbsp thyme, chopped leaves, stems removed or ground
- 1 tbsp oregano, chopped leaves, stems removed or ground
- 1 tbsp filé powder, also known as gumbo filé (optional) (Filé powder is ground sassafras leaves and can be used for its flavor and thickening qualities.)
- 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper (Crushed red pepper flakes work as well.)
- 1 tsp each salt and black pepper
- 2 cups diced ham (Any good quality ham will do, but pickled ham is super traditional)
- 2 quarts chicken stock or more if needed (Ham stock works great as well.)
- 1 lb Andouille pre-cooked sausage, halved and sliced (Polish Kielbasa and Portuguese Lingua sausage make great substitutes.)
- ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
Rice
- ⅓ cup butter, good quality like Plugra or Kerrygold
- 1½ cup rice (basmati works great or Geechie Boy Mill Carolina Gold Rice)
- 3 cups chicken stock
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup fresh scallions, chopped (added after the rice is cooked)
Instructions
Red Beans
- Dried beans are a raw agricultural product and need to be washed and picked over for any foreign objects like sticks, pebbles or clods of dirt. Wash and rinse the beans in cold water. Once the beans are clean, place them in a large pot or bowl and cover them with 2 inches of fresh cold water. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and refrigerate overnight. The next day, drain the beans and reserve.
- Peel and core the onions, and chop finely.
- Wash and finely chop the celery.
- Core and seed the green pepper and finely chop.
- Thinly slice the green onion (scallions), remove the roots and separate into two portions.
- Peel the garlic, smash with the side of a knife and finely chop. Reserve.
- Leave the bay leaf whole so you can remove this at the end.
- Measure out the thyme, oregano, filé powder, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper and add to the raw vegetable mixture.
- Prepare the pot for the beans by cooking 3-4 strips of bacon over medium heat. Once the bacon has cooked remove from the pot, chop and reserve to add later.
- While the pot is still hot with the bacon drippings, add the onions, celery, green pepper, 1 cup green onion, garlic, seasonings (thyme, oregano, filé powder, cayenne, salt & pepper) to the rendered bacon drippings. Stir to mix the ingredients well. Continue cooking until the onion and vegetables are soft.
- Once the vegetable mixture is tender, add the clean pre-soaked beans. Stir the beans into the vegetable mixture.
- Add the diced ham and reserved chopped bacon from earlier.
- Add 2 quarts of chicken stock or enough to completely cover the beans by ½-¾ inch. Bring the pot to a boil (or follow the instructions on a pressure cooker). Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 2 ½ hours, or more, stirring occasionally. Test a bean or two to determine doneness. The beans should be very soft.
- When the beans are cooked, remove from the heat and remove the bay leaf. Measure out 1-1½ cups of beans with juice and add to a blender container. Place the lid and puree until smooth. Add this back to the original pot of red beans and stir to incorporate. This will help thicken the traditional red beans properly.
- Add the chopped parsley, 1 cup fresh scallions, andouille sausage and stir to incorporate. The traditional red beans will still have enough residual heat to warm up sliced pre-cooked andouille sausage. Reserve and keep warm.
Rice (If you use an artisan rice like Carolina Gold follow the instructions on the packaging.) Otherwise, use 2 cups water/stock to 1 cup rice ratio.
- In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter.
- Add the rice and stir to coat evenly.
- Add the stock and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and cover with a tight fitting lid.
- Cook the rice for 20 minutes and turn off the heat completely, leaving the lid on. Allow the rice to sit covered for 5 minutes.
- Add the chopped scallions and mix into the rice. Reserve.
Serving
- Present the dish by packing a ramekin with cooked rice. Place the ramekin in the center of a serving bowl upside down. Ladle the red beans around the ramekin and then carefully remove it leaving the rice in the center.
- Garnish (optional) with crumbled cornbread and more scallions. I like to offer my guests a choice of Louisiana hot sauces (Tabasco, Crystal, D.a.T. Sauce) and more file' powder on the side.