Here's a red bean and rice recipe:
Red Beans and Rice
2 lbs dry red beans – you have to use Camellia’s to make it truly New Orleans-style
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 packages of your favorite spicy sausage, halved down the middle and sliced into smaller pieces (Matt’s mom uses spicy beef smoked sausage. I used one 12 oz. package of Italian chicken sausage and one 14 oz. package of andouille)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
2-3 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon Emeril’s bayou blast…or similar style seasoning
8 to 10 cups of water
Steamed white rice
Soak the red beans over night. If you forget to soak them like I did, you can do the quick soak method: cover with water, bring to boil and let the beans boil for one minute. Turn off the heat and let the beans sit for one hour.
Heat the oil in a very large pot. Add the sliced sausage(s) and cook until nicely browned. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the vegetables and two teaspoons of salt, saute for 4-5 minutes or until they start to get tender. Add the garlic powder, thyme, and seasoning salt and cook for another minute or two. Add the beans, bay leaves and sausage to the pan and top with enough water to cover (about 8 cups). Simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally. If the mixture gets too thick, add a little more water.
After the beans have softened, use a wooden spoon to mash half of them against the side of the pan…a potato masher will also do the trick (that’s what I used). Simmer for another hour, stirring and adding water if needed. This is the time to add more salt to taste as well. You want the end result to be very thick, but you can add more water if it’s getting a little too thick.
Serve over steamed white rice.