Red Beans and Rice

Red Beans and rice is a traditional Louisiana meal, normally made on Mondays.  Traditionally, we soak dry beans for several hours, then put them on a slow simmer for the rest of the day. In the mid afternoon, add a chopped onion, some bell pepper, and a pound of good sausage, sliced into rounds.

It's a wonderful meal, served over rice.  Inexpensive, filling fare.  It's easy to make, you can give it a stir ever hour or so as you walk past the stove.  I've made beans by the pound like this.  Probably the largest pot of red beans I ever made was in a 15 gallon pot, for a Boy Scout encampment, but that's another story.  We kept beans in that pot all weekend, feeding 300 boys.  If a kid was hungry between meals (and teenage boys are always hungry), they could stop by the cook tent and get a bowl of beans and rice.  We went through over 50 lbs of dried beans that weekend.

Then, there's the quick recipe,where you cheat and use canned beans.  That's hat I did today.

Quick Red Beans
3 cans red beans
half an onion
12 oz pack of smoked sausage
Pack of brown gravy mix.

Cut up that sausage and onion, sautee lightly in a frying pan then put it in your bean pot.
Add three cans of red beans.
Mix that gravy mix and pour it on top.  You don't need much gravy, just enough to flavor the beans.
Simmer for an hour, then make a pot of rice.

Whoo, red beans, rice and sausage.  It's what's for supper.