Wash Day Red Beans

Total Time: 4 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 lb dried red kidney beans (camellia brand if you can find it)
• water
• 3 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped (any color)
• kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 8 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lb hot smoked sausage, sliced
• 1 lb ham, cut into bite sized pieces
• 12 ounces fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 1/2 ounces beef consomme
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup butter

Recipe

• 1 wash and sort the beans.
• 2 in a large soup pot cover the beans with water and bring to a rolling boil.
• 3 turn off the heat and let rest 2 hours.
• 4 drain and rinse the beans.
• 5 return the beans to the pot and add 8 cups water, add a few pinches of pepper and bring to a slow boil. *don't add salt at this point, wait until the beans have cooked through or else the beans will stay hard.
• 6 in the meantime, saute the vegetables in the olive oil until soft, about 10-15 minutes.
• 7 add to the pot and stir.
• 8 return saute pan to the heat and saute the meats, adding more olive oil if needed.
• 9 when the sausage and ham bits are cooked and crisping up a bit add that to the bean pot.
• 10 return the saute pan once again to the heat and add the consomme, stirring and scraping up the flavorful bits.
• 11 pour all of that into the bean pot and stir.
• 12 add the remaining ingredients and stir.
• 13 let simmer on low for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally until the beans are soft.
• 14 season with salt and pepper to taste.
• 15 i will then mash some of the beans to achieve my desired thickness and then add my secret ingredients: the ketchup and the butter! shhh.
• 16 stir, taste and reseason.
• 17 serve in bowls over steamed or brown rice.