Red Beans and Rice -- No Dice.

Most of you know I’m really a southern belle at heart, and with Mardi Gras season upon us, I can hardly keep myself calm.  The food, colors, atmosphere, French-ness, Cajun speak, southern accents and everything else are pretty much my faves.  With this in mind, I’ve really been thinking a lot about southern foods and the tastes of the Mardi Gras season.

That being said – what’s more southern that a nice big pot of red beans and rice?  Southern tradition is that this dish was served on Mondays with the leftover pork hock or whatever else from Sunday’s dinner.  It is a slow cooking dish that the women would keep on the stove or over the fire all day while doing laundry.  As fate would have it, I had about seven loads of laundry to do this past Monday (President’s Day – I took off to celebrate) so this seemed like the perfect project for the day.

After reviewing several recipes for red beans and rice, I settled on a recipe from one of my cookbooks, The Glory of Southern Cooking , because it seemed the most legit.  The recipe called for ham, kielbasa (although I wish I had andouille), celery, a green pepper and of course red kidney beans.  So after gathering all of these treasures at Kroger, I was set to go.  Now, all I had to do before getting started was soaking the beans.

This seemed simple enough.  Put beans in pot.  Cover with an inch of water and let soak overnight.  OK, awesome.  So I got out my Le Creuset Dutch Oven, thinking it would be the perfect piece from start to finish.  I dumped in the beans with no trouble and added water. 

Oh the glory.  The potential.  The what I knew would be awesome dish!

As you can see, definitely covered with water and ready for a good soakin' overnight.

Then suddenly, around 14 hours later it was morning already!  I have to admit it was a bit like Christmas and I was so excited to gather the “bad beans” that I just knew had ultimately floated to the top of the water during the night.  However, oh what a sight as I pulled off the lid!

Turns out, people, red beans expand.  A lot.  I didn’t have nearly enough water in the pot and although it was covered at first, the beans had soaked up all the water and were caking to the pan.  I panicked – what a fright – and decided to quickly add more water as if they would suddenly be saved.  But there was no hope.  I was so distraught over this whole incident that I didn't even think to take any photos!

So I had no red beans and rice that day.  I have another bag (and a bigger bowl) for next time.  I will try again soon.

In the dire words of a dear college roomie after a night of fun once said, “who made the beans?”  In this case, I can certainly say, “it wasn’t me.”