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1
Rinse beans, put in a pot with a lid and cover with five cups of water.
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2
Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes.
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3
Turn heat off and let sit for 1 hour.
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4
Rinse, drain and then use in recipe.
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5
In a large skillet, heat oil till shimmery and then add the chunked sausage, chopped onion, bell pepper and 2 stalks of chopped celery.
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6
Cook on medium high till onions start to become transparent and a little brown on edges about 7 minutes, stirring every 1 or 2 minutes.
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7
Add rinsed and pre-cooked/soaked beans to skillet and cook another 5 minutes, stirring often.
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8
Begin to heat a large stockpot on another burner.
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9
Add the Chicken Stock or Water,tomato sauce,Garlic, Bay Leaves ( I used a tea steeper to hold the bay leaves or wrap in cheesecloth for easier removal later), Thyme, Ham hock the 2 stalks chopped raw celery, worcestershire sauce, mesquite powder, brown sugar, browned sausage mixture (with cooked onion and celery, and Creole Seasoning if using.
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10
Bring this to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
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11
Let this simmer for 2- 2 1/2 Hours.
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12
The first hour just give it an occasional stir and make sure the beans are covered with liquid.
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13
I just use a lid and I don't have to worry about a lot of escaping liquid.
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14
The second hour the beans will absorb a lot of liquid and they will stick so keep an eye out and stir more often.
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15
Remove the ham hock and trim away the usable meat.
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16
Add the usable meat back to the pot.
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17
Make rice and cook beans for another half an hour while rice prepares.
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18
Remove the bay leaves before serving.
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19
In a shallow bowl, mound in the center about 1/2 cup of rice (I used a small serving bowl sprayed with nonstick & packed with rice-turn upside down to release rice in a pretty shape)and ladle red beans around the rice.
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20
Serve this with a nice crusty bread and a simple vinaigrette salad and a bottle of hot sauce (I like chipotle Tabasco).
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21
We like a big pitcha of good cold sweet tea with this.
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22
It's a suthun thang, I gar-on-tea!
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23
To adapt this to pressure cooker (to save an hour), after browning sausage mixture-Put all ingredients in the pot, set burner to med-high and when the pot comes to pressure cook for 12 minutes.
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24
Turn off burner, release steam naturally and STIR WELL!resume cooking with a regular lid (not pressure lid) for 1 hour.
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25
Make rice 30 minutes before done.
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26
To adapt this to a crock pot, after quick-soaking beans and after browning sausage, onion and celery add all ingredients to crock pot except rice and cook on low overnight or 6-8 hours.
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27
Cook rice separately and serve.
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28
I actually prefer it made in the crock pot.
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29
The beans are softer and the soup creamier BUT you need to cube everything larger because the veggies tend to 'melt' in the crockpot.
