Classic Red Beans and Rice with Chorizo

This is a hearty dish that cries out for a great red wine. Consider opening a rich Malbec or a Cabernet Sauvignon. No wimpy red wines for this dish!

The beans will cook all day in your slow cooker, and their aroma will permeate your home. I normally don’t add salt to my bean-soaking water, but brining the red beans worked well for me in this recipe and didn’t seem to toughen the skins.

You’ll have about twenty minutes of work to do when you get home and then the stew will need to cook for another hour, so don’t make this on a day when you need to eat the minute you walk in the door.

Nancy Olah

Classic Red Beans and Rice with Chorizo

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Servings: 6 to 8 people

Course: Slow Cooker Meals

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 pound red beans
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic finely sliced or pressed
• 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil divided use
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper chopped into small pieces
• 1 package Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo 2 sausages, casings removed, halved lengthwise, and chopped into ¼-inch pieces
• 3 strips of MorningStar Farms Bacon Strips chopped in ¼-inch pieces
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Brown rice boiled or steamed in a rice cooker
• 1 avocado diced,
• 1 lime juiced

Method

 

1. Soak beans overnight in about 8 cups of water and 1 tablespoon sea salt.
2. In the morning, drain the beans and rinse with fresh water.
3. Line your slow cooker with a liner, and add the soaked beans and 4–6 cups of water. Add the bay leaves and garlic, and cook on high for 8 hours.
4. When you get home from work, heat 1½ tablespoons olive oil in a skillet and sauté the onion for about 5-6 minutes. When it is translucent, add the red bell pepper, sauté for about 3–4 minutes, and then add the skillet contents to the slow cooker.
5. Sauté the chorizo in 1½ tablespoons olive oil for 4–5 minutes and remove from skillet.
6. In the same skillet you used to cook the chorizo, sauté the bacon strips briefly, and then add them and the chorizo to the slow cooker. Cook on high for at least another hour while you make your brown rice.
7. About 5 minutes before serving, dice the avocado, and douse with lime juice and a little sea salt.
8. When the rice is done, put it around the edge of a pretty soup bowl and put the red beans and chorizo in the center. Top with the diced avocado.

Notes

Copyright © 2012 Nancy Olah