Red Beans and Rice

By mdyess

Ingredients

• • 1 pound dried red beans, picked over and rinsed
• • 2 large smoked ham hocks (or other smoked meat)
• • 2 large yellow onions, chopped
• • 2 celery stalks, chopped
• • 2 large green bell pepper, chopped
• • 1 teaspoon cayenne
• • 1/4 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• • 3 bay leaves
• • 4 to 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• • 4 green onions, green part only, chopped, plus more for garnish
• • Red pepper sauce
• • 1 to 2 lbs andouille sausages ( or other good smoked sausage) , cut into 3-inch chunks
• • Tony Chachere's, salt and pepper to taste
• White Rice

Preparation

Step 1

Place the dried beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak the beans overnight in the refrigerator.
Drain the beans and put them in a large heavy pot with the ham hocks, adding just enough cold water to cover (about 2 quarts). Add the onion, celery, green pepper, cayenne, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, garlic, green onions, Tony’s and black pepper and several shakes of red pepper sauce; give everything a good stir to combine. Simmer, uncovered, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about 2 1/2 hours. You want the beans to be almost overcooked, like they are getting ready to burst. Stir the beans occasionally to prevent scorching on the bottom of the pot. Add about 1 cup of water toward the end of cooking if the mixture appears too thick or dry. Towards the finish add salt and pepper a little at a time to taste.
Mash about 1 cup of the cooked beans against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon, this makes the broth thick and creamy. Toss in the sausages and cook for another 30 minutes to heat them through. Adjust the seasoning, if needed. Serve the red beans in a wide bowl over some steamed white rice and garnished with chopped green onion.
Important: season (salt, pepper, Tony’s, red pepper sauce, and the like) the beans at several stages throughout the cooking process to your taste. (.ie., put a little cook and then taste and repeat) Also remember Tony’s is mostly salt so use salt only during the final stages of adjusting salt and pepper tatse.
If you are going to serve this as a side dish with other main meats then you can use less meats in the beans.