triticale - the wheat / rye guy

Crock-Pot Red Beans & Smoked Sausage

It's getting to be the dried bean time of year. During the summer we use canned beans, but now having something cooking all day is no big deal. The slow cooker is a great way to do things with beans; the ever popular "set it and forget it" really works.

The wee wifey made this for dinner the other night. The recipe said it would feed fourteen as a side dish. It certainly wouldn't serve four teens as a main course. Serving just the two of us, there wasn't ANY left over. She's going to double it next time.

1 lb. dried red beans
6 cups water
1 bellpepper -- chopped
2 onions -- chopped
3 celery stalks -- chopped
1 Tablespoon garlic -- minced
1 lb smoked sausage -- sliced
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 Tablespoons sriracha sauce -- (or any hot sauce to taste)
salt -- to taste optional

Place ingredients in Crock-Pot. Cook covered on high for 7 hours or until beans are tender. You can mash up the beans a bit to make the texture creamy

Serve over hot cooked rice, which can be prepared quickly in the microwave per the method I posted last week.

Update:

I've gotten some questions from commenters regarding this recipe. If you don't like celery you can leave it out, or, if it is the texture you dislike, one commenter suggested using celery in pieces large enough to pick out. What we really have here is a cooking procedure. Beans, sausage, water and stuff you like. You could substiture pinto beans or vega beans, chorizo or bratwurst, and whatever vegetables and seasonings those you feed will eat, and the process will still work. Because of the long cooking time and large amount of water, no presoaking of the beans is required.

Posted by triticale at September 30, 2006 05:40 AM | TrackBack