Swine & Sea — Red Beans & Rice with Andouille Sausage — French Creole Recipe

Red Beans & Rice with Andouille Sausage

Red Beans & Rice is a humble dish but also shows how you can take a few ingredients and come up with an amazing meal. Simply taking kidney beans and slowly simmering them, for hours with a couple of smoked ham hocks, to create amazing melding of flavors. At the end we take a small amount of the beans and mash them to create a creamy slurry that brings it all together. Enjoy this with a side of cornbread, Tabasco, and a nice IPA beer.

Smoked ham hocks are the traditional meat used though adding dice ham or smoked turkey legs adds a nice flavor as well.

Cooked with
If you want this to taste like the version I’m writing about, start here. This is the backbone.
View Andouille Sausage
Andouille Sausage

Recipe

  • 2

    medium yellow onions , diced

  • 1

    medium green bell pepper , diced

  • 2

    celery stalks , diced

  • 2 Tbsp.

    rendered bacon fat

  • 1 lb.

    dried red kidney beans

  • 2

    smoked ham hocks

  • 1 lb.

    andouille sausage , sliced in 1/2" thick rounds

  • 2

    bay leaves

  • ¼. tsp.

    cayenne pepper

  • 4

    green onions , finely chopped
  • Kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • Tabasco

  • 3 cups

    Carolina Golden rice , cooked
    Step 1

  • Pre-soak the kidney beans. Following the package instructions this can be done by soaking the beans in water overnight or bring the beans to a boil and then remove from the and cover for 1 hour. Drain the beans.

    • Step 2

  • In a Dutch oven, sauté the onions, bell peppers and celery with the rendered bacon fat. Approximately 7 - 10 minutes.

    • Step 3

  • Once the onions have become translucent, add the kidney beans, ham hocks, andouille sausage, bay leaves and cayenne pepper.

    • Step 4

  • Cover the beans with water by 1".

    • Step 5

  • Increase the heat to bring to a boil.

    • Step 6

  • Once to a boil, reduce the heat to low and allow the beans to simmer for 2 hours. Periodically stir the beans to make sure they don't scorch on the bottoms. Add water and Kosher salt as needed.

    • Step 7

  • Continue cooking the beans until they begin to fall apart.

    • Step 8

  • Remove ½ cup of beans into a bowl and mash. Add the mashed beans back into the Dutch oven.

    • Step 9

  • Remove the ham hocks and allow to cool while allowing the beans to continue to simmer.

    • Step 10

  • Once cooled, remove the meat from the ham hocks, rough chop and add back to the beans.

    • Step 11

  • Add the green onions, season with salt, pepper and a couple of dashes of Tabasco.

    • Step 12

  • Serve over rice.