I have had a hard time deciding how to post this recipe. Should I post the beans alone then add the combined recipe? Or just do the combined? What about the amazing ham stock – how shall I highlight that? And serving with spinach (as shown) is an amazing bonus that adds great green taste & value while enhancing the flavors of the dish.
At the end of the day – I decided that this should present as one large recipe with call-outs to the individual specialties. Making this recipe – in any way you opt to make it – produces a lovely first meal of red beans & rice, a second meal depending on what you want to do with the bean (& ham potentially) stock and who even knows what you will turn that into? The point is – this recipe presents options all around, a use of a leftover (the ham) to turn something you would normally overlook into deeply scented bean stock. Really, it can’t be beat.
And now that I’ve mentioned that ham multiple times, let me elaborate. Holidays are rife with hams in my family. Specifically my family had a pre-Christmas shindig where we celebrated and enjoyed each other’s company. While there were numerous options, one of the primary dishes was ham. Ham is obviously best with a crowd because it produces a LOT of meat and since many of us don’t make this frequently at home, it is a wonderful treat. The point of this is that my husband had the foresight to ask for one of the ham-bone-legs as we left the party. Since there were two, my aunt was happy to share with us and we took home a beautiful – mostly eaten but a lot of meat still on it – ham leg. I promptly put this leg in the freezer because the holiday travel season was upon me.
In January, that crowded freezer began to drive me crazy. Additionally I paid another visit to my friends at Rancho Gordo and picked up what they described as the *ultimate* red beans & rice bean – the Red Nightfall bean. Its a beautiful bean and I was anxious to give it a try. I took the ham straight from the freezer and added it to a pot of water & beans. The beans cooked, the ham disintegrated, and I was left with beans for red beans & rice, and an amazingly rich ham/bean stock that I used for soup later in the week. Don’t pitch that stock out – its yummy! So here it is, my version of red beans & rice with bonus extras. BTW – reheated with spinach (as shown above) is a perfect meal & a great way to get extra greens in your diet!
For the beans & stock:
- 1 ham bone, ham hock, chunk of bacon, or just leave the whole meat thing out
- 1 lb. of Red Nightfall beans (or kidney, beans etc.)
- 2 bay leaves
- Add ham bone (leave extra meat on it, this cooks down beautifully) to a large stock pot. Fill with water to cover the ham bone. Add the red beans & bay leaves and bring everything to a boil.
- Once boiling, lower heat to a simmer. Cook for 1-2 hours until beans are nicely cooked but not breaking down.
- Strain out beans & ham meat. Discard the bone & bay leaves. Be sure to save the stok produced from this mixture.
For the red beans and rice:
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 T. garlic, minced
- 4-5 sprigs of thyme (or about 1 t. dried)
- 1 1/2 c. rice
- beans from above recipe
- 3 c. of stock (preferably use the stock produced above or any vegetable or chicken stock)
- In a large pot warm some olive oil. Sauté the onion, peppers, and garlic until just softening. Add the thyme, rice, beans, and stock. Stir well to combine then cover and lower the heat to low.
- Cook for about 20 minutes until liquid is absorbed. If after about 20 minutes rice is done but liquid remains, raise the heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, stirring, until liquid is absorbed.
- Season well with salt & pepper, then serve. Garnish with fresh parsley to add a bit of color.
