Louisiana Style Red Beans and Rice with Sausage

Ingredients

• Salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic
• Water
• Green onions
• Pepper
• Bell pepper
• Garlic powder
• Onion
• Fresh parsley
• Bay leaves
• Green onion
• Onion powder
• Paprika
• Smoked paprika
• Cooking oil
• Cayenne
• Oregano
• Ice
• Onions
• Thyme

Directions

1. The night before you plan to cook, put the dry beans in a large bowl and cover them with twice as much water as beans. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator and leave the beans to soak overnight.
2. When it is time to get started, cut the sausage into rounds. Warm the cooking oil in a large pot, add the sausage slices, and cook them over medium heat until nicely browned. Lift the sausage out with a slotted spoon and move it to a clean bowl, then refrigerate it while you work on the rest of the recipe.
3. As the sausage browns, chop the onion, bell pepper, and celery into dice, then finely mince the garlic.
4. With the sausage out of the pot, stir in the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Cook over medium heat, scraping as you go so the liquid from the vegetables loosens the browned bits stuck to the pot.
5. Sprinkle in the smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, black pepper, and bay leaves. Stir everything through and cook for 1 minute longer.
6. Pour off the soaking liquid from the beans and rinse them well. Add the beans to the pot with 6 cups water, then stir briefly so everything is mixed.
7. Cover the pot, raise the heat to medium-high, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it is boiling, lower the heat to medium-low and keep it gently boiling for 1 hour, stirring from time to time and putting the lid back on after each stir.
8. After 1 hour, check that the beans are tender. Use the back of a spoon to press some of the beans against the side of the pot, then keep mashing a portion of them as the pot simmers uncovered for 30 minutes, until the mixture thickens.
9. During that final 30 minutes of simmering, make the rice. Combine the rice and 3 cups water in a sauce pot, cover it, set the heat to high, and bring it to a boil. When it boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes have passed, switch off the heat and keep the lid in place for 5 minutes, then fluff the rice with a fork before serving.
10. When the red beans have thickened, return the cooked sausage to the pot and stir in 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley. Taste and season with salt as you like, beginning with 1 tsp and adding more if needed. The total used here was 1 Tbsp (3 tsp).
11. Spoon the red beans into a bowl, add a scoop of rice on top, and finish with sliced green onions.