Red Beans and Rice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFeKQEnaznY

We haven’t added a new dish to our daily repertoire in ages, but this one is definitely on the list!

Red Beans and Rice is possibly Louisiana’s most famous dish after gumbo and was traditionally a Monday meal, using the bones from the Sunday ham as its base. My version doesn’t use the ham bone or hock as they’re not that easy to get here so somewhat lacks the smokey taste. I also can’t abide green peppers so use sweet red peppers instead. And finally, an authentic dish also features Andouille sausage but there’s no chance of getting that in England! Nevertheless, it’s full of flavour, easy to make and cheap as chips.

Ingredients:

• 4 pork shoulder steaks
• 2 cans kidney beans
• 6 cups water
• 1 chopped sweet red Romano chili pepper (the large ones)
• 1 cup finely chopped celery
• Half a large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic – minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried chili flake
• Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the steaks in a little oil in a large pot, add the chopped vegetables, herbs and water and bring to a boil. reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 and a half to 2 hours until the meat is very tender and can be shredded easily.

Drain the beans and add to the pot and cook another 45 minutes. The liquid should be quite thick rather than brothy, so you may need to keep the lid off or even raise the heat to get the water to reduce.

Serve over white rice! Corn bread is the perfect accompaniment but we also like to eat it with white corn tortillas because we’re like that.

And just to prove what an inspiration this dish is, a poem from my friend Louise:

Victor Hernández Cruz, Red Beans

Next to white rice
it looks like coral
sitting next to snow