4/22/2014

Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage

RED BEANS AND RICE
...well, it's Tuesday, but it was wash day for me, so maybe that still counts.  Reading up on the traditional Louisiana dish of red beans and rice taught me that on Monday (wash day) a big batch of beans was simmered along with the leftover ham bone from Sunday dinner along with the holy trinity of culinary arts: celery, onion, and carrots.  Hence the above picture that replaces my customary food quote.  I found a couple of food quotes about red beans and rice, but they were not entirely appropriate.

I have been craving red beans and rice for going on a month now, and I'd just about had all I could stand of not having some.  I visited New Orleans in January 2004 (pre-Hurricane Katrina), and I loved it.  I wish I could go back and experience it all again with a little dash of my 10-years-older wisdom.  I've tinkered with recipes that hearken back to the foods we ate that week, but I've never attempted RB&R 'til now.  It isn't difficult, really.  What I lacked today was time.  I wasn't certain I was going to have the andouille I needed/wanted, so I didn't get my beans pre-soaking until (eek!) 4pm.  Never fear, you can cook dry beans in the pressure cooker, and they turn out amazing!  I Googled it and found a couple of sites that are indispensable (theKitchn & hip pressure cooking).  Enough jibber-jabber.  Let's get on with it!

Red Beans & Rice with Andouille


Beans:

1 lb dry red beans (not kidney beans)
8-10 cups cold water
3 TB salt

1.  Sort, rinse, and drain beans.  Add to large pot.  Cover with cold water.  Add salt, stir.
2.  Turn heat on medium-high.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat to maintain rapid boil for 5 minutes.
3.  Cover pot, turn off heat.  DO NOT REMOVE POT FROM CAP!  Let sit 60-90 minutes.
4.  Drain, rinse, drain.
*ingredients from theKitchn*
quick-soaked beans
1 tsp pre-minced garlic (or a fresh clove or two if you have it)
1 TB oil
1 bay leaf
8 cups cold water
1 tsp salt

1.  Add beans and 8 cups cold water to pressure cooker.  Add remaining ingredients and stir.  Attach lid to pressure cooker and turn cap on to medium (5-6)


2.  While pressure is building, start on rice and sausages.

3.  Once pressure cooker reaches a steady pressure/jiggle, set timer for 24 minutes (as per chart).

4.  After 24 minutes has passed, turn off cap, remove pressure cooker from heat, and very slowly begin to release pressure.  I barely pressed the pressure button so a scant amount of steam could escape.  I just didn't have the time to let it depressurize naturally, so I thought this method was likely the next best thing. 

5.  Once cooker is depressurized, carefully remove lid.  Stir beans, test for doneness.  *If beans require additional time, simply replace lid on cooker and bring to full pressure to continue cooking*  Remove bay leaf and discard.


Rice (while beans are cooking):

3 cups Thai Jasmine rice
6 cups cold water

1.  Rinse rice until water runs clear.  Add rice and water to large pot.  Cook over medium-low heat until water is absorbed.  If rice reaches a boil, reduce heat to maintain a very gentle simmer.


2.  If necessary, add water 1 cup at a time if the rice cooks too quickly and is still tough or starts to dry out.


Sausage (while rice is cooking):

2 pounds Johnsonville Andouille
1 softball-sized white onion

1.  Cut onion into 1/4" dice.  Reserve 1 cup as garnish.


2.  Slice each sausage in half lengthwise.  Cut into 1/4" slices.



3.  Saute sausage over medium-high heat until lightly browned.  Add onion, and stir frequently until onion is your desired level of tender-crisp (I just cooked it until the rice was done - about 5 minutes from end-time on beans).



Assembly:

1.  Dump sausage/onion and rice into a very large bowl.  Stir to combine.


2.  Spoon rice/sausage/onion into bowl.  Top with beans and cooking liquid.


3.  Serve with White Lily Cornbread and enjoy.

Pan Fried Pork Chops

"Ever consider what pets must think of us?  I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow.  They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!"
- Anne Tyler

I am about porked out this week.  We had German style chops with cabbage, apples, and potatoes on Sunday, apricot pork tenderloin on Tuesday, and on Wednesday - our breakfast night - I fixed the leftover chops.  My mom had planned to fry them, but she was delayed at work, so that task fell to me.  I had never fried a chop in my life.  As I said before, I don't fry very often, and I'm not exceptionally talented at frying anything except hush puppies.  The only reason I accepted the challenge was I didn't want to be waiting on food at bedtime.  Before I began the chops, I set them on the counter to come to room temperature.  While the chops warmed up a bit, I worked on a batch of Biscuits - we were out of Crisco, so I used a stick of margarine instead.  After the biscuits were on the baking stone, I started work on the chops.

Pan Fried Pork Chops


8 pork tenderloin chops
2 cups all-purpose flour
salt & pepper
2 Tb cooking oil

1. Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish.


2. Press chops into flour mixture, turn to coat.  Place coated chops on a cookie sheet lightly coated with cooking spray.


3. Let chops rest while you heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat (6-7).  Once oil is heated add chops 4 at a time.  Cook approximately 5 minutes per side.  Test internal temperature - it should be 145°.  Remove chops to a rimmed baking sheet in a preheated 450° oven while you fry the other batch - you can even bake a batch of biscuits alongside the chops in the oven.




4. Serve with biscuits and gravy.