Red Beans and Ricely Yours

First off, nothing else that I cook smells as good as this does when it's cooking! First you smell the onions, then you smell the seasoning and finally the smokiness of the ham hocks and andouille.

I've developed a bit of a thing for all things Southern the last few years and it seems to manifest itself most often in Red Beans and Rice.

Red Beans and Ricely Yours is supposedly the way Louis Armstrong signed off his letters. It was an homage to his upbringing in New Orleans and to his one of his favorite meals as well - I'm with Louis on this one.

Red Beans and Rice are a New Orleans staple to this day. They're cheap and filling and really, really good if made right. Hell's Bells - even the funky beans in a bag version from Popeye's will do in a pinch. That might just be because for better or worse they were my introduction to the genre.

I've used a couple of recipes over the years, but my go to recipe these days is Chuck Taggart's Gumbo Pages Recipe. The secret sauce so to speak of this recipe is the Creole Seasoning Blend

Creole Seasoning - A slight variation on the Gumbo Pages recipe - mostly because it used what I had on hand.

• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano leaves
• 2 tablespoons dried sweet basil
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoon celery salt
• 5 tablespoons sweet paprika 

Red Beans and Rice

Soak the beans overnight.

1 pound dry red kidney beans - soaked overnight

1 can diced tomatoes

1 large onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

5 ribs celery, chopped

5 cloves of garlic

1 large smoked ham hock

1 lb smoked andouille -sliced in half lengthwise and cut into 1/8" slices

1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed

3 bay leaves

A couple of big shakes of Tabasco

3 T Creole Seasoning

2 or 3 T of Ham Base or salt to taste

Cover the beans with a couple of inches of water and add the rest of the ingredients

Cook for three hours or so until the beans are really soft.

Serve over steamed white rice with a bottle of Louisiana Red Hot Sauce on the side to add some heat to suit.

Since this in a New Orleans's dish I mixed up a couple of Sazeracs to go with the beans. Tragically I'm out of Rye.....so I made the Cognac Variation. Since the French settled New Orleans, the Cognac Version was most likely the original.

Sazerac

• 1/2 teaspoon absinthe
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 4 dashes Peychauds Bitters 
• 1dash of Angostura bitters  
• 2 ounces Cognac 
• Strip of lemon peel

Pack a rocks glass with ice. In another Old Fashioned glass, moisten the sugar with just enough water to saturate it, then crush. Blend with the whiskey and bitters. Add a few cubes of ice and stir to chill. Discard the ice from the first glass and pour in the Absinthe and coat the inside of the entire glass,Strain the whiskey into the Absinthe coated glass. Twist the lemon peel over the glass so that the lemon oil cascades into the drink, then rub the peel over the rim of the glass. Some folks say it's sacrilege to throw the peel in the glass - being the heathen that I am, I toss it in.