New Orleans Red Beans and Rice with
Home Style Hot Smoked Sausage
Serves 6-8
½ lb Home Style Hot Smoked Sausage
1 lb Camellia red beans
8 cups hot water
1 med/large yellow onion, med chopped
1 sweet bell pepper, any color, med chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 stalks of celery, med chipped
2 Tbs dried parsley
1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
Cooked white rice for 6-8 people
Wash the beans, and soak a minimum of 4 hours, in the hot water.
Drain and rinse the beans. Put them in a large, non-reactive pot with a tight lid, like a French oven.
Cover the beans with 2 inches of water, and slowly bring them up to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 1 hour with the lid on, stirring and checking the water level often. Add water as needed to keep the beans covered by about an inch of water.
After the beans have simmered for an hour, add the vegetables, plus: Worcestershire Sauce, salt, and pepper.
Stir vegetables and spices into the beans and simmer, uncovered, for an hour, stirring and checking the water level Let the juice reduce so that you don't have a lot of water over the top of the beans - they won't absorb much more from this point- but they don't need to be dry, either, or you won't be able to make the sauce....
When the beans are soft, but before they begin to split and break up, remove one cup of beans and mash them with a fork into a paste. Add the bean paste back to the pot, and mix in well. Then add the Home Style Hot Smoked Sausage, sliced into small pieces.
Make sure the beans are still simmering, and continue cooking them slowly to let the proteins set the sauce and thicken (this may take 15- 20 mins). Adjust seasonings and serve over the white rice. (Recipe contributed by Girls on a Grill, www.girlsonagrill.com)
