TRADITIONAL RED BEANS & RICE RECIPE

From Southern Cooking Magazine, with my own twists. :)

I have even made this recipe Kosher and served the Andouille on the side.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs dried red beans, soaked overnight in plain water (up to 24hrs)
1/4 c. olive oil, divided (I use light olive oil, it has a much higher smoke point)
1 lb Andouille sausage, cut into 1/4" rounds
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 med. sweet onions, chopped*
3 ribs celery, chopped*
2 medium green bell peppers, chopped* (or mix & match colors for looks)
Note**If you chop the veggies a little finer, they cook more quickly

2 bay leaves
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 tsp ground red (cayenne) pepper
3/4 tsp rubbed sage
4 tbsp dried parsley
1 bunch green onions, chopped
HOT COOKED RICE (I like Basmati or Jasmine best) I use my rice cooker for the rice...makes it easy to get the rice & beans to the table at the same time.

In a large dutch oven (I like enameled cast iron) heat 2 tbsp olive oil over med-high heat. Add sausage, cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, remove & set aside. Add remaining olive oil and cook onions for a few minutes, then add garlic (to prevent burning). Then add celery & bell pepper. Cook until tender, about 10 min or so. Cook in batches if necessary.

Pour soaked beans & soaking water into dutch oven (I actually drain my beans, add them into the dutch oven, then cover with Swanson's broth with the Louisiana flavoring...it's amazing! It's a chicken broth base). DO NOT ADD SALT YET! If your beans are old, add a tsp of baking soda to help the beans cook through or your beans will be hard or you'll have to cook them for HOURS. Bring to a boil, then turn down & simmer until beans are soft, about an hour, longer if your beans are getting older.

Add reserved sausage, bay leaves, basil, salt, peppers, and sage. Cook another 15 minutes.

Remove 1 cup of beans and mash, return to pot. Add parsley & green onions, simmer an additional 15 minutes. Serve over hot rice.

Another change is that I do NOT like parsley, so I omit it. Sometimes I'll leave some of the green onion "greens" chopped up and use as a garnish. If I've added too much liquid and the cup of beans aren't thickening it up enough, then I'll add about 1/4 cup of dehydrated refried beans (they don't taste refried). Wish I had a picture of this for you, but it's usually gobbled up too quickly to get a photo! Maybe next time.