Thursdays are for cooking…
Owing to the increasingly strange behavior of Those Who Insist Trump Stinks (TWITS), and because the President has sort of reddish hair and is getting picked on a lot, I have provided a photo of the noble orange.
For anyone who likes red beans and rice, here’s how I fix it:
1 can (14.5 oz) red beans canned in chili sauce
1 smoked sausage of your choice
1/2 to 1 cup of rice
1 14.5 oz can of beef or chicken broth
1 chorizo sausage, mild or hot – your choice
Olive oil
A cooking pan of your choice.
Pour some olive oil into the pan. Squeeze the chorizo out of its tube. Start with medium heat. Let the chorizo start to disperse, then add the chili beans, rice and broth. Keep simmering on medium heat, stirring occasionally, and cover when you are not stirring it. Add the smoked sausage when the rice is truly cooked. Brown rice will take longer to cook than milled white rice, so you may need to add more broth.
The cook time should take about 30 to 45 minutes. Very filling, and good on a cold winter day. Add some cornbread (and lots of butter) plus favorite beverage, a side of cut-up veggies and a good book or pry some dinner conversation out of your kids while you eat. For dessert: your choice, but apple pie with ice cream is always good.
This is a quick and inexpensive solution to feeding a large crowd, too. The portions per item are below.
Note: one can of beans provides two servings. The same thing with broth: you may need to add more liquid if you use brown rice instead of milled white rice. The hot or mild chorizo will provide all the flavor you need, and the smoked sausage ditto. One big link of smoked sausage will give you two to three servings, or you can stretch it by slicing it into coins. Drop some cut up green stuff from green onion tails on top of the red beans and rice.
Category: Economy
Cumin, chili powder, and dried cilantro gets tossed into mine for that Tex-Mex flavor.
Do you use white rice or brown?
I use both, but the brown rice takes longer to cook and uses up more liquid. I may just stick with long grain white rice from now on.
White, usually, and I use a rice cooker. Takes all the guesswork out.
My dear wife always likes her apple pie with a slice of cheese on it? Must be a southern thing?? I always prefer mine with vanilla ice cream myself. Anyone else like cheese on theirs??
Ice cream. Vanilla ice cream. Chocolate ice cream with turtle cheescake, but vanilla ice cream with apple pie.
If eating good food is so bad for you, how come I’ve lost some real weight since I stopped drinking that poison known as Diet Coke?
Why would you drink anything that will clean your toilet? I only add a touch of Pepsi to my rum for a little color! What do you think about cheese on your apple pie??
For me, cheese has the wrong texture. It’s like putting bananas into a fruit salad – you get all that watery, juicy fruit and then you get a piece of banana and it’s like a dry sponge – wrong texture. But put sliced banana on a cereal like Cheerios or Grapenuts or shredded wheat (big biscuits) and it’s fine.
Willy, is your wife from Wisconsin?
Supposedly, there is a old obscure law here that when apple pie is served in a restaurant, it has to be served with a slice of cheese.
As for dinner tonight, plan on having a “souper”. Campbell soup with (vegie, or cream of mushroom, etc.) with rice tossed in. Topped off by ice water & some cookies.
Been working outside all day building a stone wall and not really into cooking for just one person.
Wow, I am glad to see “somebody” knows how to eat apple pie! Apple pie without cheese…it jist ain’t apple pie LOL
Orange you glad you posted the pic of the orange EX.
Hah! Nice puns! You want butter and jam with that?
Do you have a crock pot variation on this?
I’ve never tried it in a crock pot or slow cooker but there’s no reason it can’t be done. I had to experiment with it, but it only takes about 40 minutes max to cook completely, which gives me time fix the cornbread, set the table and find a good book to read.
You could probably start by cooking the chorizo first, then putting that and the other ingredients into the crock pot. I just think it would take longer because the rice has to cook, too. According to Genius Kitchen, it takes 1.5 to 2.5 hours to cook raw (not instant) rice in a slow cooker.
Also, you should adjust the flavors to your own liking.
I may try doing it in a slow cooker this winter, to see how long it takes. I’ll post it when I do that.
Google is your friend. Mostly.
Red Beans and Rice in a Slow Cooker
Yes, but I want my red beans and rice now, not tomorrow evening. That’s why I use canned beans, especially when I am in the thick of it with space aliens.
Get a pressure cooker, the microwave oven of the ’50s. Go from dried beans to done in about half an hour.
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_fast_no_soak_beans_in_the_pressure_cooker/
The reason I asked is because you’ve had probably 40 years of cooking experience over me ^_^ I work and my husband doesn’t cook (he can burn water) so I need things I can set up in the morning and it’ll be done by the time I get home ^_^
I will experiment and see what I can come up with but the link that AW1Ed posted is done in a slow cooker.
Should I cook the Orange before adding it to the rice?
No, you peel the orange, peel the sections, put them in a nice, light syrup of sugar and white wine (or brandy) and water, let them sit in this concoction overnight, and then serve this dish to your guests with a maraschino cherry or two thrown in for good measure.
Or you can just peel it and stuff it down your piehole, if you prefer. That particular orange was juicy and absolutely delicious.
“That particular orange was juicy and absolutely delicious”
Looks it. Love Orange slices next to Peaches in a dish with ice cream.
A drizzle of Yukon Jack.
That would effectively destroy any viruses or germs within a 50 miles radius of your ice cream.
Loves me some red beans and rice, specially with sausages and cornbread & lots of butter. Did I say lots of cornbread? And pie. Lots of pie. Apple, peach, berry, (black, red, straw, blue, goose), pecan, sweet tater, punkin, key lime, lemon, peanut butter, chocolate. And ice cream, any flavor but mint, not a fan of sherbets. Had apple pie with cheese, and yeah its a semi Southern thing, but not a fan. Like Ex, prefer pie with ice cream, and apple & vanilla, particularly vanilla bean, is proper and most tasty. Damn a diet soda pop of any sort. That crap is nasty and ain’t good for you. Original Co Cola with fresh, hot, buttered, and salted pop corn, or with dry roasted salted peanuts poured into it. Got to be ice cold, in the bottle, glass, no cans, no plastic, no ice. How many remember the old 6 oz Co Colas in the machine when they were a nickel? Non alcoholic drink of choice is Southern Sweet Iced Tea. Adult beverage of choice, distilled and/or fermented.
Yes, I do remember the coke in the small green bottles. Always returned them to get the deposit money back.
Brother & I would curry comb the country side hunting for the bottles, take ’em to the store, get the deposit(s), and have a shopping spree. Got to where we could gage the approximate distance from a store to where the empty was thrown out. I have never thrown trash out of my vehicle window, but those trashy folks back in the late ’50s and ’60s got us many a CoCola and Moon Pie. Good times.
Haven’t heard “Cocola and a moon pie” for a long time lol…good onya!
If you’re in a hurry and don’t have time (or desire) to assemble all of that from scratch, several of the prepared red beans and rice mixes (I’ve tried Zatrains, Tony Cherchere, and Mahatma brands – can’t remember for sure regarding Louisiana Purchase) work quite well also. Prepare per package directions, but add 1/2 lb to 1 lb of thinly sliced smoked sausage along with the mix and water.
Goes well with most vegetables – and cornbread, of course. Greens and yellow squash w/onions go particularly well.
I think I’ve used Mahatma brand, and they’re good. But we all like the fresh best.
Doc says I need to watch my salt intake- the pre-made bags are tasty and convenient, but are loaded with the stuff.
They are a bit salty (though I think Zatrains also makes a lower sodium version). However, if you steam the other veggies w/o salting them (easy to do with squash and most others), that and the sausage will be all the salt you get.
Cornbread is optional, and will also contain some salt. Well, it will contain salt if it’s going to be edible anyway. (smile)
Love you like a brother, Hondo, but corn bread is mandatory.
Especially with a handful of grated Jack cheese and diced jalapenos are stirred into the mix.
“but cornbread is mandatory.” ^this^ Might even have a handful of cracklin or chopped up bacon in that mix. As posted earlier, Hondo, the answer man. Y’all do this for me, that whole salt thing, and the knowing of oncoming stroke symptoms. Dial back the salt and know ’em.
Hondo, Zatrains? That’s Coon Ass heresy.
It’s Zatarains, mon!
Correct. Here are the missing letters.
a a
(smile)
Hondo, mon frere, it saddens me to point out that it is also Tony Chachere brand, named for a true Cajun King from Opelousas.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Tony+Cachere&oq=Tony+Cachere&aqs=chrome..69i57.11003j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I once went into an after hours Cajun joint in Opelousas where the doorman asked me if I was armed. I said “No,” so he asked me if I wanted a knife.
Seriously, the guy did ask me if I was packing a knife or gun. I made it out of there after a couple of hours without getting sliced, stabbed or shot and never went back even though the Cajun music was exceptional.
Already gave you the missing letter “a”, PT. I think you can remove the excess letters and put those I supplied in place as required. (smile)
Seriously, you’re correct. Been a while since I’ve been able to find many Chachere products locally, and I’d forgotten the correct spelling.
So far all of these recipes are missing one crucial ingredient: McIlhenny’s Tabasco Sauce and I mean the original stuff, not some other off brand of Louisiana hot sauce. If you’re hardcore you add it to the mix while you’re cooking where the cooking heat will potentiate the pepper heat. If you’re not used to eating hot stuff, it’s best to just sprinkle it on judiciously while you’re eating it.
Ed’s suggestion of chopped bacon and chopped jalapeǹo’s is right on–there’s a brand, Mezzetta, that makes what they call “Tamed” jalapeǹos which are not hot but still retain all that unique jalapeǹo flavor. Two bucks a jar.
Another nice extra touch is to add some cooked whole kernel corn and/or chopped green chiles to your cornbread batter.
We lived over 20 years in Texas, 14 years in Louisiana and the Redneck Riviera and 8 years in Southern New Mexico, all places where highly seasoned foods are common fare.
A small geography/cuisine lesson for those unfamiliar with Louisiana. Although it is a coastal state, due to the influence of the muddy Mississippi Delta, the marshy coastline has very limited beach areas satisfactory for recreation.
So Louisianans seeking sun and sand during the summer months migrate by the thousands to the beautiful white sand beaches of Northwest Florida (where the Poe’s lived) and South Alabama’s Gulf Shores and Perdido Key. The result is that there is a very strong Cajun/Creole cooking influence in those areas, both in restaurants and family kitchens.
I was born in Alabama, but left when I was young so don’t remember a lot of the food, my Dad was born and raised in
Alabama and my Mom, being a yankee, had to be trained to cook good food LOL
Poe, I like the spiciness of mild chorizo.
I don’t like the heat of chilis, which is why I don’t use them. Takes too long for the burn to exit, and blocks other flavors.
I know what you’re talking about, but cracked peppercorns are about as spicy as you can get without the extreme heat of tabasco, so I stick to what I know I can tolerate and still be able to enjoy other flavors, such as chocolate.
I think there’s a recipe for adding a small can of creamed corn to cornbread batter. I’ll see what I can find.
Poe, I’ve been a fan of McIlhenny’s Tabasco Sauce, the real stuff, for a long time. Lately, I’ve also been using Sriracha which is slightly thicker and has its own characteristics. It’s not a Tabasco wanna-be.
Mezzetta indeed makes both hot and mild versions of jalapenos. A trick to cooking with peppers is to remove the seeds to tone down the heat.
Authentic Cajun-style beans and rice would probably use Andouille sausage and not chorizo.
You are absolutely correct on the Andouille sausage. I missed that detail. Ditto on removing the seeds from the Jalapeños, which, by the way, are named after the lovely Mexican City of Xalapa that is off the beaten tourist path. It’s a medium sized municipality in the mountains a few thousand feet above the port city of Veracruz and about 20 degrees cooler on any given afternoon. The peppers were first cultivated in this region and residents of Xalapa are called Jalapeños.