Red Beans and Rice

I love to cook and to do a good BBQ, so red beans go right along with that. Now I make these for my family and friends when I do a party and they are always a hit with everyone. Now these are not your normal red beans and rice, these are some serious  straight up New Orleans Style beans and the recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks The New Orleans cookbook by Rima and Richard Collin. it was given to me by a really good friend of mine who is from new Orleans and makes these sometimes for functions at work. here is the recipe for those of you who might want to give these a try.

2lb of dried kidney beans soaked overnight in some cold water

1/2 cup thin sliced green shallot

1/2 cup of chopped green pepper

1 1/2 Tbs. finely minced garlic

2Tbs. finely chopped parsley

1 lb of seasoning ham cut into 1 ich cubes

1 lb of pickled pork (you will use salt pork, do not add any additional salt if using salt pork)

1 large ham bone with some meat on it like from a Christmas or Easter ham, get it sawed in half

!tbs of salt 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/8 tbs cayenne

1/8 tsp red pepper pods

2 bay leaves broken

1/2 tsp of thyme

1/8 tsp of basil 

2 qts cold water

Drain the beans and put them is a colander to drain, get a heavy 10 quart kettle cast iron is the very best, and place the drained beans along with all the ingredients in the pot cover with the cold water. bring all this to a boil, then lower and let simmer 21/2 -3 hours stiring occassionally and scraping down the sides and mashing some of the beans to thicken them. If they appear too dry add just a bit of water or stock. Make some white rice and serve the hot rice with a ladel of beans over the top. This is some good eating especially with some pulled pork sandwich!