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Red Beans and Rice

5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe
Servings: 6 servings
Course: Appetizer, dinner, easy side dish, Lunch, Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: cajun, creole
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

For the Beans
  • 2 onions, diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 2 tbsp rendered bacon fat (I used pork belly, you can use bacon or salt pork)
  • 1 pound dried red kidney beans
  • 2 smoked ham hocks
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • Tabasco
  • 3 cups cooked Basic Louisiana White Rice (recipe follows)
For the Basic Louisiana White Rice
  • 1 tbsp chicken fat, extra virgin olive oil or butter
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1-2 pinches salt

Method
 

For the Red Beans
  1. Sweat the onions, bell peppers, and celery in the rendered bacon fat in a heavy soup pot over medium-high heat.
  2. Once the onions become translucent, add the kidney beans, ham hocks, bay leaves, and cayenne, then add water to cover by 2 inches.
  3. Increase the heat and bring the water to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and allow the beans to slowly simmer for 2 hours. Periodically stir the beans to make sure that they don't scorch on the bottom of the pot, adding water if necessary, always keeping the beans covered by an inch or more of water.
  4. Continue cooking the beans until they are creamy and beginning to fall apart when they're stirred.
  5. Remove the ham hock meat from the bones, roughly chop it, and add it back to the pot of beans.
  6. Stir in the green onions and season with salt, black pepper and Tabasco. Serve with the Basic White Rice.
For the Basic Louisiana White Rice
  1. Put the fat, oil or butter and the onions into a medium saucepan and sweat the onions over moderate heat until they are translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour the rice into the pan and stir for 2 minutes. Then add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the bay leaf and salt.
  2. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 18 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, fluff with a fork and serve.