Happy New Year!

To commemorate the first New Years spent together with Brian in New Orleans (2001), I decided that Red Beans & Rice would be our supper for the first day of 2006. We still remember the smokey-delicious smell of it cooking, coming from every house, as we toured through the Garden District the afternoon of an unexpectedly cool NYE in NOLA.

This year, before we left for the night, I got the crockpot simmering with the majority of ingredients, including a nice, meaty piece of ham hock (I must admit I had some issues with this strange-looking "ingredient" at first, as I'd never seen -much less cooked- with it before). We spent the night touring through my old hometown, something I hadn't done since before 2001! We visited with some friends who were spending a quiet night in, then headed out to a small party that my cousin and her husband were hosting. There we rang in the new year with a nice bottle of Veuve Cliquot, a bottle we'd received as a wedding gift that we'd somehow never gotten to, along with some fabulous appetizers that covered their dining table. When we got home that night, we could smell our dinner as we approached the door. I peeked in, gave it a quick stir, then let it continue to cook as we went off to bed.

Brian decided to make bread in the breadmaker the next day, a sweet loaf of Honey Wheat bread, to go along with dinner, that came out somewhat lumpy but tasted delish! We still haven't quite got the hang of that machine yet! Are we or are we not supposed to open and smooth the dough down before baking? Somehow it always comes out looking like a doughy deformity! I guess as long as it continues to taste good, I won't complain. We spent the day on the couch watching movies after that, until my parents came by and we celebrated with our first meal of the year.

Here's to a prosperous, delectable 2006!


Enjoy this meal anytime of the year! I adapted this recipe for the crockpot and reduced the amount of liquid as it won't evaporate, cooking for almost 24 hours. The version below is adapted from a Food Network recipe.

Red Beans and Rice
Yield: 6 servings

1 lb. dried small red beans, picked over and rinsed
1 or 2 large smoked ham hocks
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp cayenne
1/4 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
3 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 green onions, green part only, chopped, plus more for garnish
Red pepper sauce
2 andouille (or any type) sausages, cut into 3" chunks
4 cups cooked white rice

Place the dried beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak the beans overnight.

Drain the beans and put them in a large heavy pot with the ham hocks, adding just enough cold water to cover (about 2 quarts). Add the onion, celery, green pepper, cayenne, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, garlic, green onions, and several shakes of red pepper sauce; give everything a good stir to combine. Simmer, uncovered, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about 21/2 hours. You want the beans to be almost overcooked, like they are getting ready to burst. Stir the beans occasionally to prevent scorching on the bottom of the pot. Add about 1 cup of water toward the end of cooking if the mixture appears too thick or dry.

Mash about 1 cup of the cooked beans against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon, this makes the broth thick and creamy. Toss in the sausages and cook for another 30 minutes to heat them through. Adjust the seasoning, if needed. Serve the red beans in a wide bowl over some steamed white rice and garnished with chopped green onion.