Cajun Red Beans and Rice

Here’s a dish that’s part of the staple diet of practically the entire world: rice and beans. It’s cheap, bountiful carbohydrates and proteins…and it can be pretty tasty and comforting, too. So this is Louisiana’s take on this winning combo, and it wouldn’t be cajun if it wasn’t jazzed up with cayenne pepper, thyme and garlic, and given a double dose of porky goodness courtesy of some bacon (in place of more authentic but hard-to-find Tasso ham) and some andouille, the smoky, spicy sausage synonymous with cajun food. It has to simmer on the stove for about 90 minutes, (and the beans should ideally brine overnight) but it’s really not that labor-intensive of a dish.

Cajun Red Beans and Rice

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 1 pound small red beans, rinsed and picked over
• 4 slices bacon, sliced into lardons
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 ribs of celery, finely chopped
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 6 cups water
• 8 ounces andouille sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, plus extra for seasoning
• Cooked white rice
• 3 scallions, white and green parts, sliced thin
• Hot sauce (optional)

Method

• Dissolve 3 tablespoons salt in 4 quarts cold water in large bowl or container. Add beans and soak at room temperature for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours. Drain and rinse well
• Heat bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and almost fully rendered, about 8 minutes. Add onion, green pepper, and celery; cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in garlic, thyme, paprika, bay leaves, cayenne pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in beans, broth, and water; bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a high simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are just soft and liquid begins to thicken, 45-60 minutes
• Stir in sausage and 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar and cook until liquid is thick and beans are fully tender and creamy, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and additional red wine vinegar. Serve over rice, sprinkling with scallions and hot sauce, if desired

Chicken and Slicks

When I first saw this recipe on PBS’s Cook’s Country, I thought of my mom and how much I thought she would enjoy it. When we used to go to Fresh Choice together, she would always talk about how much she loved their chicken noodle soup, with its thick, doughy, chewy noodles and rich, chicken-y broth flecked with thyme. The “slicks” in this thick chicken stew are handmade noodles flavored with rendered chicken fat, named for their soft, slippery mouthfeel.

On the surface, this seems like a pretty ordinary dish, but there are so many ways in which the ingredients are manipulated to make it extraordinary. First, the broth (and the noodles) get a savory boost from pan frying the chicken pieces before simmering them in the soup. This creates a rich brown fond on the bottom of the pan that soak into your sauteed vegetables and leach into the rendered fat that, along with a splash of chicken broth, will moisten the dough for your noodles. You should get your chicken with skin on for just this purpose, even though it seems like a waste of time since you’re just going to be discarding the skins, but it’s worth it. Also, the bones in the chicken will lend body and flavor to your broth as the chicken simmers.

Another cool little trick in this dish is what I would call a “dry roux,” white flour that gets dry-toasted until brown and nutty and later gets added to the pot to turn the broth into a thick and velvety gravy. The stew gets a nice earthy flavor and a thickness that makes the dish almost like, as my mom put it, “a deconstructed chicken pot pie,” which it totally is.

This kind of food–warm, comforting and homey–is what this blog is all about. I loved this dish. I hope my mom loved it. And if you guys make it, I hope you love it, too.

– G

Chicken and Slicks

Total Time: 2 hrs, 15 min.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 3 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs
• 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, halved crosswise
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• handful chopped fresh parsley

Method

• In a large dutch oven over medium heat, toast the 6 tablespoons of flour, stirring constantly, until just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer flour to a medium bowl and wipe out pot
• Season chicken with kosher salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in now empty Dutch oven over medium-high heat. In two batches, add the chicken and cook until well browned all over, about 10 minutes per side; transfer to a plate. Pour the fat in the pan into another small bowl and set aside. When chicken is cool, remove the skin and discard
• Return same pot to the stove and heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme and cook for about 30 seconds. Add 7 1/2 cups of stock, chicken pieces and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer chicken to a plate. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones, cut into bite-size pieces, and set aside
• Meanwhile, combine remaining 1/2 cup chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of the reserved chicken fat, and remaining tablespoon of oil. In a food processor, process the remaining 2 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. With the machine still running, slowly add the broth mixture and process until dough comes together. Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth
• Divide dough in half. Roll each dough half into a 10×10-inch square.  Cut each square into 10 1-inch strips, then cut each strip in half across, so you have 20 5×1-inch noodles (per dough half).  Place noodles on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with another sheet of parchment, stacking as needed, ending with a sheet of parchment on top. Put in the freezer to firm up, at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes
• Return broth to a low boil and add the noodles. Cook until the noodles are tender, 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so they don’t stick together. Remove 1 cup of broth and whisk into the reserved toasted flour until you have a smooth paste. Stir paste into pot gently, being careful not to break up noodles. Simmer until thickened, 5 minutes. Add chicken pieces and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper, as needed. Ladle into shallow bowls and garnish with parsley

Meatless Mondays – Fregola with charred onions and roasted cherry tomatoes

For this edition of meatless Monday, I tried out a new kind of pasta called fregola (FRAY-go-lah)…it’s a lot like Israeli couscous in that it’s these dense, chewy little balls a bit smaller than peas. It looks like some obscure variety of grain, but it’s just good old durum semolina pasta cut into an unusual shape. The kind I bought actually also came pre-toasted, so that most pieces were a typical golden pasta color but some were varying shades of brown; it also had a nice, toasty smell when it was boiling, and a deeper, earthier taste than most pasta.

Basically, this was a warm or room temperature pasta salad…to go with the fregola, I slow-roasted some more of our homegrown cherry tomatoes with olive oil, thyme and rosemary until the herb leaves got crispy and the tomatoes were bursting and roasty-sweet. I also grilled some red onions, then braised them in some oil and balsamic vinegar, before chopping them up and adding them to the salad, which got drizzled with more balsamic dressing. It’s important to mix the ingredients together when the fregola is still warm; it takes on the flavorful cooking liquids/dressing better that way.  Garnish with some torn basil leaves and you’ve got a tangy, sweet-savory meatless entree. Happy Monday…

Fregola with Charred Red Onions and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Recipe from Food & Wine

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (30 min. active)

Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the tomatoes:

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• 2 thyme sprigs
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper

For the onions:

• 2 medium red onions, sliced 1/2 inch thic
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

For the fregola:

• 3 cups fregola
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup torn basil leaves

Method

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the tomatoes with the olive oil. Add the rosemary and thyme sprigs and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are ready to burst. Strip the crispy leaves from the herb stems; discard the stems. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F

• Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. Brush the onions with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over moderately high heat until nicely charred but still crisp in the center, about 3 minutes per side

• Transfer the onions to a baking dish. Add the vinegar and the 1/4 cup of olive oil and bake for 20 minutes, until tender. Let the onions cool in the liquid, then coarsely chop them. Reserve the liquid

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fregola and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fregola is al dente, about 15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. While the fregola is still warm, add the onions and their cooking liquid, along with the tomatoes and crispy herbs

• Stir in the vinegar and olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with the basil and serve warm or at room temperature