Sak

Sak's Red Beans and Rice Mess

02.25.10 17:13
Section: Sak
Filed Under: Copyright - CC, Recipes

Not your traditional Creole dish, by any stretch of the imagination, but over the last couple years I’ve started working this sausage, bean, and rice recipe into my diet fairly regularly. I stumbled on this concoction when looking over a few items I had in the cupboard, so much of the traditional Creole seasoning is left out, but it’s still a decent, tasty meal on a tight budget that yields 5 decent plates. Good for protein, fiber, anti-oxidants, and incredibly easy to prepare.

Sak’s Red Beans and Rice Mess¹

Ingredients

• 1/2 green bell pepper.
• 1/2 red onion.

• Sausage.

I’m pretty cheap, so I tend to go with your typical rope of Hilshire Farms kielbasa or whatever happens to be on sale. However, I definitely prefer to use a spicy sausage to give the dish more flavor. Going the more traditional route, Andouille is the best choice.

• 1 15 oz. can red kidney beans.

I’ve also used black beans in this dish—again, a choice made based on what was available or on sale at the time.

• 1 15 oz. can stewed tomatoes.
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce.

• Seasonings.

The only seasonings I tend to use in this dish are fairly basic: salt and pepper. About a pinch or dash each, and usually only if I’m forced to go with a milder sausage on sale. I’ve also started tossing in a dash or so of crushed red pepper if using the mild sausage. With a spicy sausage I use very little salt or pepper, maybe a pinch of each, if at all. Basically season to your own taste. If you have it available, by all means add in some cayenne, thyme, and bay leaf.

• 1/2 cup (uncooked) white rice.

Preparation

The sausage will likely already be cooked, though probably refrigerated, so chop it up—lengthwise then slice—and drop it into a pan on medium heat to get it heated and the juices flowing. Cook the sausage for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring it around occasionally. It’s possible some of the sausage will cook to the bottom of the pan, but that’s okay, the rest of the ingredients will clear it. This may vary, though, depending on what sausage you use; some may produce a good deal of oils, while others not so much.

Add in the diced bell pepper and onion, and mix well. At this point, I strain the can of stewed tomatoes while mixing the diced veggies in with the meat and add in whatever other seasoning I’m using; salt, pepper, crushed red pepper.

Once the tomatoes have strained for a couple minutes, drop them into the pan, then strain the beans. I do all this because I feel the dish comes out moist enough, without being runny or watery, yet providing texture. If your can of tomatoes aren’t the diced variety, you’ll probably have to bash them up into bits.

After the tomatoes are added, the mixture will pick up whatever might have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Drop in the strained beans, and the little 8 oz. can of tomato sauce, mix it all up well, and let it simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

To serve, scoop up a cup and a half of the meat and beans over top the cooked rice. Munch it down with some cornbread; crackers work well for those of us among the seriously financially handicapped.

Being the nut-job that I am, I sometimes like to hit the center of the pile with a dollop of sour cream, especially if the meat selection is particularly spicy. It kinda gives the meal a nice, cool, perk half-way through.

¹ Disclaimer: Much of what I make is cheap and easy bachelor chow, but might also work well if you’re looking for a quick fix lunch or dinner that you don’t want to have to worry too much about details regarding spices and preparation. Though I sometimes fantasize about having all the equipment, spices, and other implements of destruction that are necessary for an elite kitchen experience, I’m a terminally single-dude, so by the time I think about food it’s a little too late to deal with a long prep time. I’m hungry, dammit, and so I want to eat soon. These meals are fairly healthy, however, and can be improved upon depending on whether you can afford nicer ingredients—organics and so forth. I’ve also included measurements for ingredients as a guideline, but I don’t typically measure out my ingredients to specific quantities. Much of what I’ve discovered in these recipes is a result of being hungry, putting stuff into a pan, and noodling around with the measurements over multiple cooking sessions until I get something that works for me.