Wash Day Red Beans Rice Recipes

WASH DAY RED BEANS

Steps:

• Wash and sort the beans.
• In a large soup pot cover the beans with water and bring to a rolling boil.
• Turn off the heat and let rest 2-3 hours.
• Drain and rinse the beans.
• Return the beans to the pot and add 8 cups water, add a few pinches of pepper, the thyme, and bay leaves and bring to a slow boil. *Don't add salt at this point, wait until the beans have cooked through or else the beans will stay hard.
• In the meantime, saute the vegetables in the olive oil until soft, about 10-15 minutes.
• Add to the pot and stir.
• After the beans have cooked at least 30 minutes, return saute pan to the heat and saute the meats, adding more olive oil if needed.
• When the sausage and ham bits are cooked and crisping up a bit add that to the bean pot.
• Return the saute pan once again to the heat and add the consomme, stirring and scraping up the flavorful bits.
• Pour all of that into the bean pot and stir.
• Add the whole can of tomatoes and stir.
• Let simmer on low for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally until the beans are just right.
• Season with salt, pepper, & hot sauce to taste.
• I will then mash some of the beans to achieve my desired thickness and then add my secret ingredients: the ketchup and the butter! Shhh.
• Stir, taste and reseason.
• Serve in bowls over steamed white or brown rice.

CHEF JOHN'S RED BEANS AND RICE

Steps:

• Place beans in a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir sausage in hot oil until oils slightly release from sausage and edges brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir onion, celery, and poblano pepper into sausage; cook and stir until vegetables soften and start to turn translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir garlic into sausage mixture; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Stir red beans, chicken broth, ham hock, bay leaves, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce into the sausage mixture; bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours. Add salt and continue simmering until beans are soft, meat is tender, and desired consistency is reached, 1 1/2 to 2 hours more. Season with salt.
• Spoon rice into bowls, ladle red beans mixture over rice, and top with green onion.