NOLA Red Beans and Rice

In honor of Mardi Gras next Tuesday, here is the most quintessential New Orleans recipe: Red Beans and Rice! You might not be able to count on the electricity in New Orleans, but the one sure thing down there is that every Monday, come hell or high water, red beans and rice will be on every menu, in every cafeteria, and in every kitchen. This has been one of my favorite dishes since I was little- my dad used to make it for us and I still use his authentic recipe. The beans should, ideally, soak overnight to soften, although I boiled them for about 15 minutes and then threw them in the pot and they were ok. If you are on a time crunch, feel free to substitute dried red beans for a couple cans of rinsed red beans. Also- the dried red beans take about 4 hours to cook (if you have longer, that's better), so you should probably make this on a weekend when you have time to wait. You can also make this on a workday in a slow cooker with the canned beans and it will be just as good. This dish is really, really resilient and even the most terrible cooks should have a hard time screwing it up. It always tastes delicious. Note: this also freezes really well, so I like to freeze leftover 2 serving portions and have it a couple of weeks later. Another note from my sorority sister and good friend Olivia: make sure you smash some beans against the side of the pot to thicken the whole mixture!

Ingredients:

-1 lb of red kidney beans
-1 onion, chopped
-1green bell pepper, chopped
-3 ribs of celery, chopped
-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
-2 bay leaves
-1 ham steak or hambone with some meat left on it
-1/2 stick butter
-2 tsp worcestershire sauce
-Louisiana hot sauce to taste
-white rice

Directions:

-Soak the beans overnight to soften. Drain and put in a large soup pot.
-Add the onion, pepper, celery, garlic, bay leaves, and ham. Fill the pot with water, making sure the ingredients are covered.
-Bring mixture to a boil and cook for 2-3 hours, uncovered, until beans are almost soft. Continue to add more water as it evaporates (I usually add 4-6 cups throughout cooking). You should stir every so often to make sure the beans don't stick to the bottom of the pot, but I usually leave the pot on low for prolonged periods of time if I need to run an errand or leave the house. Again, these are really tough to screw up so you don't need to babysit them like you would a normal meal.
-Remove the meat from the pot and trim the fat. Cut the meat off of the bone into little pieces (1/2 inch or smaller) and put back into the pot.
-Add butter, worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce, to taste. Cook for another hour until mixture is creamy and beans are soft.
-Cook rice according to instructions on bag.
-Serve beans over rice with french bread or cornbread.

Here is what the progression of cooking looks like, as the beans get soft and everything blends together: