Red Beans and Rice

You might call this ‘Cajun Cassoulet‘ or even ‘Louisiana-style Paella’ , but no matter what you call it, beans and rice are always a great meal ! Rather than just stay with the standard sausage, I added chicken and shrimp to the dish to give it a more paella-like quality, but you can feel free to leave that out if you want it in a more traditional way.

Ingredients

• 1 pound andouille sausage links (or cut into 5 inch pieces)
• 2 cups dry red beans
• 1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 5 chicken wings, tips removed and separated
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped
• 5 stalks of celery, chopped
• 5 ounces bacon, pork side meat, or smoked jowl, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon lard
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• Cooked white rice.

Start by preparing the beans, either by soaking them overnight, or using the ‘quick soak’ method described on the package.

In a large, oven safe pot, add the butter, lard, and chopped bacon and begin cooking over medium heat, until the lard is rendered, and the bacon begins to render as well. Add the chopped onion, celery and bell pepper, and continue cooking until the vegetables have cooked down, and the onion is translucent.

Add the prepared beans, the sausage, the 2 cups of beef stock and the spices to the pot, and mix throughly. Cover and place the pot in a 250 degree oven for 4 hours.

While this is cooking, take the chicken wing pieces and fry them in a little butter or oil until they are golden brown. Also use this time to peel and devein your shrimp.

After 4 hours of cooking the beans, remove the pot from the oven. Take about 2/3 cup of the bean mixture (do not include any of the sausage) and put it in a food processor. Blend this until smooth, then add it back to the pot to thicken the bean mixture. Add the same time, add the chicken wing pieces, recover the pot, and put it back in the oven for 1 more hour.

Remove the pot from the oven and place it on the stove over low heat. Add the shrimp, and cook the mix for about 5 to 10 minutes until the shrimp are cooked. Serve over rice and enjoy.

“Quick” Cassoulet

Maybe this is not that quick after all, but hey, if you are trying to elevate what are basically pork-n-beans to a meal worthy level, so be it. Actually most of the time involved is in the actual cooking,  but since this done with low heat and requires almost zero attention during that time, the effort is really not so bad.

There really must be hundreds of ways of preparing a cassoulet, but this preparation captures the essence, without a lot of fuss.

Ingredients

• 8 Sausages (2 varieties)
• 2 smoked pork hocks
• 5 strips bacon
• 2 cups dry white beans
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 large sweet onion
• 2 tomatoes
• Bouquet Garni (10 thyme sprigs, 1 sage sprig, 1 rosemary sprig)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 3 tablespoons of butter

For this recipe I used both artisan-made bratwurst and chicken and apple sausages. Feel free to use any kind of sausage, but 1) make sure at least one of the sausages is a pork sausage, and 2) do NOT use a spicy sausage.

First prepare the beans. I used dry great northern beans in this preparation. You must use dry beans, otherwise, your beans will be mush after the cassoulet is cooked. Soak the beans overnight or use the quick method of placing them in boiling water for 3 minutes, then covering and removing for heat, then letting them soak for 1 hour.

Chop the onion into a medium dice and finely mince the 4 cloves of garlic. Sauté both in a tablespoon of the butter until the onions begin to caramelize.

Chop the bacon into 1 inch pieces.

Peel and remove pulp from the tomatoes, and chop the flesh into a 1/4 inch dice.

In a large oven-safe pot, add the onion/garlic mixture, the tomato dice, the soaked beans, the pork hocks, the bacon, the sausages, the salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons of butter and the chicken stock. Place the bouquet garni on top and cover the pot. Place the cassoulet in a 230 degree oven and let cook for 4 hours, covered. At the end of 4 hours, carefully remove the pork hocks from the cassoulet, and let them cool enough to be able to remove the meat fat and skin from the hock. Chop the hock trimmings and add back to the cassoulet. Remove the bouquet garni. Allow to cook, uncovered for 1 more hour, being careful to monitor the liquid content of the cassoulet, so it does not dry out.

Serve rustic-style, in a large bowl.