Let Mardi go by without a party? Fat chance!
With Fat Tuesday exactly one week away, I'm sharing one of my favorite New Orleansy recipes.
Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice, adapted from Southern Living, is the recipe my former co-worker, dear friend and N'awlins native Linda Haymes uses.
When we worked together, I always got excited when Linda made a batch for her family. As the recipe can feed a small army, she'd inevitably have too much and leave a container of leftovers -- and usually garlic bread too -- in the work fridge with my name on it! Red Beans and Rice is one of the most delicious things she makes, next to her Symphony Bar Brownies. And her mama Lola's spicy Cheese Krispies. And ....
These days, Linda -- who says hello! -- is a communications manager for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Office of Communications and Marketing where someone else is surely getting my leftovers! Luckily this Big Easy dish is super easy.
So invite your krewe, get cooking and laissez les "beans" temps roulez!
Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
1 pound dried red beans (New Orleans' Camellia brand for extra credit)
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
3 celery ribs, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning (like Tony Chachere's)
1 tablespoon chicken base (optional)
2 bay leaves
7 cups water
Hot cooked long-grain rice
Hot sauce (optional)
Garnish: finely chopped green onions, finely chopped red onion
Combine beans, sausage, celery, green and red peppers, onion, garlic, Creole seasoning, chicken base (if using), bay leaves, and water in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 7 hours or until beans are tender. Remove bay leaves.
Serve red bean mixture with hot cooked rice, and, if desired, hot sauce. Garnish, if desired.
Makes 10 cups (serving size: 1 cup with 1 cup rice)
Adapted from Southern Living
Jennifer's notes: The original recipe calls for "3/4 pound of smoked turkey sausage, thinly sliced." But, please, for the sake of Fat Tuesday, splurge on the real stuff. And add a whole pound ... or more.
I'm not entirely proud to admit that once or twice I might have -- gasp! -- added a can of diced tomatoes to the dish. But then I saw a 2017 Times-Picayune story on Nola.com by Ann Maloney condemning a cooking video that -- shudder! -- included tomatoes: "Oh, did I mention the tomatoes? No? That's because in South Louisiana, we don't put tomatoes in red beans. I have never heard of anyone doing that. Have you? Or as one woman said on Facebook: 'Gross. Tomatoes!?!?! Noooo!!!'" I never dared again.
Because I like the dish to have a slightly thicker consistency, I also remove maybe three cups or so of the cooked beans to a bowl, mash them and stir them back into the slow cooker mixture before serving.
The chicken base addition is one that I made. Basically because I'm obsessed with Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base and all other flavors -- Chili, Roasted Garlic, Mushroom, Roasted Beef, etc. -- of the concentrated stocks that last for a long time in the refrigerator and add a lot of flavor (and, yes, sodium, but again, you'll repent on Ash Wednesday) to just about anything. I'm all about that Base, 'bout that Base.
And I add bay leaves, just because.
When I forget I put them in there, forget to take them out and choke on them, I think of them as the baby in the king cake.
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Style on 02/26/2019