Red Beans & Rice

Red Beans & Rice!  This is a family favorite dish that we all love.  Tricia likes that we love it because it is so simple to prepare.  I have never planted red kidney beans, but I'm going to figure out how we do it so that we can grow our own.  Until then, we start out with the best - Camellia Red Beans from New Orleans (Since 1923).  We pour them into a colander and wash them because everyone may not have washed their hands like Momma told them to.

Washing the red beans

We soak our beans overnight after adding an ice cube of pure lemon juice into it.  There are several reasons for soaking beans.  First, soaking helps to remove some of the complex sugars from the beans that are indigestible.  Soaking the beans helps to minimize gas -not a nice thing to think about - but a good benefit. Second, soaking reduces the cooking time.  In addition to being a quicker meal, the expedited cooking time preserves some of the nutrients.  Third, beans may be dirty as discussed above.  Finally, soaking helps break down phytic acid.  Among other things, phytic acid inhibits enzymes we need to digest our food.


Soaking the beans

We let them sit and soak overnight.


Soaking red beans

In the morning, your beans will be all swollen up and most of the water will have been absorbed.  Drain off the water that remains and place the soaked beans in a dutch oven or large pot.  We add a bunch of cut up onions and start the beans simmering.

Simmering red beans

We always like to add some bell pepper and some homemade smoked sausage for some extra flavor.  Some people add ham, pork chops, tasso, etc. 

Adding some good stuff to the pot

We chop up the sausage and remove the casing (optional, of course) and chop up the bell pepper.


Chopped up

Add this all to the simmering pot of beans along with some salt and cayenne pepper.  We use our homemade ground criolla sella pepper.  Continue to simmer.  Now would be a good time to make some homemade cornbread to accompany this meal.  Red beans & rice and cornbread go together like bacon and eggs.

Adding in sausage and peppers

We're almost done.  A nice step at this point to thicken the red beans is to take a wooden spoon and mash up a bunch of the red beans against the side of your pot.  This makes the red beans nice and thick and creamy.  Continue to simmer until the beans are cooked.


Almost time to ring the dinner bell

And here is a nice bowl of red beans and rice topped with some fresh green onions right out of the garden.  Some people will slap a piece of fried chicken on top or serve with a big piece of cornbread.


Good, simple eating!

Traditionally, this dish was always served on Mondays.  Monday was laundry day and you could let your beans simmer all day while you did laundry.  When you were finished with laundry, your pot of beans were ready.  Additionally, the Sunday meal was always a huge one and this easy dish allowed a rest from the day's cooking on Sunday.  Leftover meats (like sausage & pork chops) would be thrown in the pot to enhance the meal.

We like this meal so much, though, we eat it on any day of the week!