Red Beans and Rice

Travel and food always makes me think of New Orleans, where good food and music go hand in hand. Red beans and rice is one of those ubiquitous dishes of New Orleans, with flavors of French, Cajun, and Creole all rolled into one great dish. I've made this with Andouille sausage, but when I feel like going vegetarian, I simply omit the sausage and use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock. 

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
1 Andouille sausage, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapeno
1 can pink beans, seasoned with peppers and celery, or red kidney beans
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp minced fresh sage leaves
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
1 cup low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
1 Tbs sriracha sauce (optional)
1 cup cooked brown rice

Directions: 

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook for about 1 minute. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper and celery and continue to cook for about 5 more minutes, until the onion turns translucent and the peppers begin to soften. Add the jalapeno, the can of beans, along with the herbs and stock. Cook until the beans are heated, then add the hot sauce, if using, and the rice. Cook until everything is hot. Serve.

Serves 4

Stealthy Cooking Tip: You may notice that I've been using pickled jalapenos in many of my recipes recently. That's because I can keep them in the refrigerator and always have them handy. Also, pickled jalapenos have an equal amount of heat throughout the jar. Some jalapenos may be very hot, and some may be very mild. With the pickling process, they are all the same! If you like mild heat, look for "tamed" jalapenos - they've had the seeds and capcacin producing veins removed.