Ohhhh soooo nice! - Red Beans and Rice

*This is Roman, our 7 month old Berner. He's plotting how to get his paws on some awesome red beans and rice!


This is a pretty mild recipe (We had a few PANSIES at dinner)


The Oh So Nice Ingredients
1 lb Red Beans
14 oz pack smoked sausage *or Andouille links if you can find them!!! I couldn't :( *
1 lb of ham steak with bone and fat left on!!
**Bones from a roast with fat left on
2 medium onions chopped
4 stalks celery chopped
1 Fresh jalapeno  
1/4 cup beer
2 can beef broth
2 cans diced tomatos
2 bay leaves
2-3 cloves garlic diced
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cayenne or more

2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 salt
2-3 tbsp fine chopped onion
1 1/2 cups rice
3 cups water
 
Doing it!

1. Check beans for pebbles and sticks (not joking.. it happens.. very painful to bite a rock!!)
2. Pour beans into a large pot with at least 6 cups of water, Bring to a hard boil for 10-15 minutes and let simmer 1 hour. After an hour add to the crock pot
3. In a seperate pan add cubed ham, and sausage (I cut my sausage on a diagonal for maximum browning surface area) start to brown.
4. Chop onion, celery and 'pena and add to meat. If the meat begins to stick us beer to loosen from the pan.
5. When thoroughly browned add to a large crock pot and use beer to get all the stuck bits off the bottom of the pan then add to the crock with bones, tomatoes, broth, garlic, thyme, bay, pepper and cayenne.
6. Let cook in the crock pot on high for 10-14 hours 
7. Heat olive oil, salt and onion in a pan. Add rice, constantly stirring until the rice gains some color. Add water, bring to a boil, turn to low and cover for 15 minutes.
8. Serve beans over rice with tabasco close! Maybe some fried okra, corn bread, blackend shimp or fish, or salads!

** I had made a loin-end roast weeks ago, cut all the meat off, wrapped it up and stuck it in the freezer with bits of meat and fat left on it. Makes a HUGE difference but you could use hocks or bacon or my favorite get a cheep pack of neck bones and rub them with olive oil and salt, put them under the broiler until you get some brown or fat sizzling then add to your crock pot.

• Notes!!! 
• If you want it milder take the seeds and veins from the jalapeno.
• Spending the extra $0.50 on better beans is totally worth it. You will have less odd ball crunchy beans if none at all.
• The beer I used was a strong IPA. But unless its a stout I don't ever notice a difference in the end product with different beers (Stout would be AWESOME in this though!)  
• Really flexable recipe.. I've used left over smoked pork in it... no jalapeno and no ham... Its a great dish you can adjust for what you have. 
• If you like to add okra or sour cream to top things those would be great!