Spicy Beans, a lightened up take on the New Orleans classic

I grew up on Zatarain's seasoning mix, but several years ago, on some sort of quest for authenticity, I found Emeril's recipe for red beans. Very tasty, except. SO. HEAVY. Ham hocks? Bacon grease? Tasso? Smoked sausage? ALL OF THESE. I'm not a dock worker. Plus, beans shouldn't give you angina or meat sweats. So, I killed the grease and the ham hocks. HEB doesn't sell Tasso, but I did have an over abundance of ham in my freezer. And I love turkey sausage. It was my main gateway meat during my return to omnivorism. I like Butterball Everyday Smoked Turkey sausage. It tastes more smokey, with less spice, nice and clean. And cheap. Other than that, same spices, and authentic flavor. This freezes beautifully, and after prep is complete, not very labor intensive. Also, I can get my four year old to eat this, as long as I pick out the sausage and green pepper. Apparently that shit is toxic to preschoolers.

At some point I'll figure out how to make this in the Instant Pot. Until then, plan on soaking your beans overnight in salted water, and leave a few minutes to give the pot a few stirs during the two hour cook.

Please skip on down to the ingredients if you know what red beans are. These are red beans:

Kidney beans are NOT red beans. They can be tasty, but not in this recipe. Their thick skin is a distraction, and I don’t think they work well here. If you can’t find red beans, I’d try another small bean like navy beans, pinto beans or even black eyed peas, something with a tender, thin skin. I always use storebrand. 

Another note for folks using dried beans for the first time, there are often small rocks in with the beans, and they are dusty. You literally need to pick out small rocks/sketchy beans, and wash them off before soaking. Yes, even with expensive, not storebrand beans. So weird, right?


Yield: 6 large servings at 6 smart points per serving



Ingredients:


1 pound small red beans, picked over and rinsed, covered in three inches of water with 1 tablespoon of salt, soaked at least 12 hours, then drained and rinsed.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 pound ham, diced into half inch pieces
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion, diced (about 2 small)
3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup diced bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne (my husband would totally say, "MORE SPICY", but not me)
3 bayleaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or a few sprigs fresh)
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 pound turkey sausage, sliced


1. In a stock pot, heat oil on medium high until shimmering, and turn down to medium. Add ham and sauté until fragrant, and edges are beginning to brown, about one minute.

2. Add veggies, salt, pepper and cayenne and cook until veggies are soft, but not brown, about four minutes.

3. Add bayleaves, thyme, parsley, sausage, and cook for four minutes. The directions in Emeril's original recipe says to cook until the sausage browns, but with all the veggies, its too wet for anything to brown too much. I just cook until it smells good, a cooked sausage smell? Lets go with about four minutes.

4. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

5. Add soaked and rinsed beans, and sauté for a minute.

6. Add stock, water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about two hours, stirring every 5-15 minutes, depending on your pot's thickness. If it starts sticking to the bottom, let it sit off the heat for a few minutes, then scrape the burned stuff off the bottom, and stir it up into the rest. Put it back on the heat, perhaps lower, and shh... now its really authentic.

7. Fish out about a cup of beans, returning sausage to the pot. Mash the cup of beans with the back of a spoon, and return to the pot. Simmer for twenty more minutes, until thick. If you like soupier beans, you can totally skip this step.

8. Remove and discard bay leaves and thyme stems, if you used fresh thyme.

9. You could serve over rice, cauliflower rice or not a damn thing, like we do.