What to do when you have little money but a lot of time on your hands...

Cook, of course!  You may have realized that I am writing more blogs than usual and making a more than usual amount of food.  A large part (in fact, the major reason) is that my job gives us five weeks off between fall season and spring season.  That has its perks (we get to travel back east) but also its drawbacks (5 weeks of no pay!).  It is for this reason that I have been trying to make a lot of bean dishes, as this seems the quintessential no money food.  Today (well, technically, yesterday) it was red beans with rice.  Fortunately, I still have a lot of dried beans on hand so I haven't had to buy that many ingredients.  Not that dried beans are that expensive.  Still a little bit worried about cooking dried beans?  That whole having to soak them beforehand part?  Don't be!  According to Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (my favorite cookbook in the whole world!), that's a lot of bogus.  And, after cooking this recipe where I didn't soak the beans and last recipe where I did, I can definitely agree with him.  All it really seemed to take was a little more time...

Ingredients2 cups kidney, pinto, or other beans, washed and picked over
1 or 2 meaty smoked hame hock(s), 1 chunk of bacon or salt pork, or 1 meaty ham bone
1/2 lb sweet Italian or spicy Cajun sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 or 5 sprigs thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; don’t bother to drain)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Minced fresh parsley or cilantro leaves for garnish
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice (I used brown)
3 cups canned coconut milk, warmed
Chopped parsley or cilantro for garnish
Tabasco sauce (optional)

Procedures:


1.) Put the beans in a large pot with water to cover. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil; skim the foam if necessary.  Add the ham hock(s) and turn the heat down so the beans simmer. Cover loosely stir occasionally; add additional water if necessary.

2.)  Place the sausage in a large skillet and turn the heat to medium.  Cook, turning occasionally and pricking the sausage a few times to release its fat.  When the sausage is nicely browned, remove it; don't worry about whether it is done.  Cut into small chunks.

3.) Cook the onion, pepper and garlic in the sausage fat, stirring frequently, until the pepper is softened, about 10 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon.  Return the sausage to the skillet and cook, turning occasionally, until the chunks are browned all over.  Return the vegetables to the pan, along with the thyme, bay leaves, allspice, and tomatoes.  Turn the heat to medium low and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes break up, 20 to 25 minutes. 

4.) When the meat in the beans is very soft, remove it.  When it is cool enough to handle, chop all the meat and return it to the pot vegetables and tomatoes into the beans. Cook until the beans are cooked through and completely tender (keep tasting and checking; this is the secret of cooking beans, at least for me, not to quit until they’re done). Discard the bay leaves, if you used them, and season to taste with salt and pepper. s, along with the sausage and vegetable mixture. Cook, until the beans are very tender.  Remove and discard the bay leaves.  Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary. Garnish and serve, passing Tabasco or other hot sauce at the table.


5). Put 3 cups of the bean and meat mixture into another saucepan, one that can hold at least double their bulk comfortably. If the beans in the saucepan are swimming in liquid, cook them gently until they are moist but not swimming in liquid.

6.) Add the rice and warmed coconut milk to the beans and vegetables. Cover and turn the heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. If necessary, uncover and raise the heat to medium-high; cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with parsley or cilantro, and serve. A dash or two of Tabasco tastes very good with the coconut milk.


If you are reading carefully, you may notice that this is kind of two recipes turned into one.  That is exactly what it is.  It does give you leftover red beans and meat, which I actually found to be a lot more flavorful than the red beans and meat.  I think I kind of failed in "Don't turn this into a bean-flavored meat dish, because it should be the other way around; the meat is the seasoning." but who could resist adding in that extra sausage?  Oh, and another word of advice. Don't try to get the coconut milk straight from the coconut unless you have a blender!  Scott couldn't find canned coconut milk, so he went out and bought a whole coconut at the store.  Waiting for all the milk to drain out of that tiny little whole was exacerbating.  I only got about 2 cups from it.  I used water for the rest, which perhaps explains the lack of flavor.  However, I found that a little bit of cholula hot sauce put on the red beans and rice made it quite flavorful.  It took a wee bit longer to cook the whole thing than he said.  I attribute that to the use of pure dried beans and brown rice instead of white.

Red beans and meat

Close up (with fresh bay from the Farmer's market!)



Enjoying the leftover red beans and meat



Now it is red beans and rice