WP. Red beans and rice is a common dish that pretty much is just what the name says, but this is a slightly different version. This is a New Orleans style red beans and rice with all kinds of "stuff" in it - pork sausage, onions and green peppers, etc. I'm a little puzzled by it because it has 3 cups of chicken broth which almost makes it a soup. The broth isn't used for cooking the beans or rice (the beans are canned and the rice is cooked separately, and there's no flour or anything to make a roux to thicken the soup. The only instructions for thickening it is to mash some of the beans into a paste and stir that in.
Ingredients
8 ounces smoked, cooked pork sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced across into 1/4-inch half-moons
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 medium green bell pepper, deseeded and diced
1 medium sweet onion (about 8 ounces), diced
6 or 7 scallions, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced or finely grated
Two (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Leaves from 3 full stems fresh thyme (may substitute 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves)
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Leaves from 2 or 3 stems fresh parsley, coarsely chopped, plus more for optional garnish
1/2 teaspoon table or fine sea salt, plus more to taste
Cooked long-grain rice, for serving
Hot sauce, for serving
Instructions
1. In a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the sausage and cook, stirring a few times, until some of its fat renders and the sausage browns, 6 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a plate.
2. Add the bell pepper, onion, scallions and garlic to the pot and stir to coat in the fat. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, until just softened, about 2 minutes. Add the beans, broth, thyme, bay leaves and the black and cayenne peppers. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for 25 minutes.
3. Uncover and discard the bay leaves. Using the back of a wooden spoon, mash about a cup’s worth of the beans against the side of the pot; this will thicken the mix a bit.
4. Return the reserved sausage to the pot, as soon as it’s heated through, turn off the heat and stir in the parsley. Taste, and season with the salt, as desired. Serve hot, with white rice and garnished with additional parsley; pass the hot sauce at the table.