Aunt Deane's Red Beans and Rice

It's Monday....so you know what is for dinner. You got it - red beans and rice, darlin. When I spent a few years living in Louisiana, this was a given. It's a bit of tradition down there. Why, you ask? Well, laundry day was usually on Monday, so the women would cook a big ole pot of beans while they kept busy washing their clothes. My Aunt Deane submitted her recipe for red beans and rice for the family cookbook, which is the version you see here. This is not the traditional recipe that I was served down in Louisiana... this one used ground hot sausage and ground beef instead of the traditional link smoked sausage or andouille...think a little less soupy and more of a thick consistency. But it was easy, and I enjoyed it. Prewarning: It makes a lot....I'm going to freeze half for later.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. hot sausage

2 bell peppers, chopped

2 medium onions, chopped
2 cans Hunt's tomato sauce

1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (cowboy up and use the spicy version)
3 cans dark red kidney beans
cooked white rice, for serving

Saute onions and peppers. Add meat and brown. Add Ro-Tel, tomato sauce, beans, salt and pepper. Cook slowly for 2 hours or overnight in a crockpot over low heat. Serve over rice. (And if you are anything like me, add some Crystal hot sauce!)

Grilled Skirt Steak

If you know me at all, you know I like spicy. Spicy this, spicy that, you name it, I want it. And if isn't spicy, I'll probably pull some hot sauce out of my bag and make it that way. Yes, I have hot sauce in my purse. And 3 bottles in my drawer at work. I can't get enough.

Most skirt steak recipes are with served with chimicurri sauce or either cooked for fajitas. I didn't want either of those, but I had this beautiful piece of meat that was calling my name. Skirt steak is one of my favorite cuts - the flavor is so much better than a lot of others and because I prefer my meat cooked rare, it's a perfect cut for me.

This recipe is super simple, easy and has a lot of flavor.

Once again, I forgot to take the recipe shot but it's all simple ingredients:
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 lbs beef skirt steak, cut in 6-inch pieces
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper kosher salt to taste

First step is making the marinade. In a large mixing bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients and whisk together thoroughly.



Now take the skirt steak and cut into 6" pieces. Mmmmm....beef. This is obviously not cut yet.



Add the skirt steak, and toss in the marinade until all the pieces are coated evenly. I only had a little over a pound of beef, but I didn't change the marinade...which is probably why it had a decent kick. Cover the bowl and let sit, at room temperature for 20 minutes.



Remove skirt steak from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Season with freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt. Cook about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare on a very hot, preheated outdoor grill, or on a grill pan indoors. It's still freezing in NY, so grill pan wins. I like my meat rare, so I think I would do more like 2 minutes on each side.



Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Remember my lesson in resting? Well, read it again if you don't. The next step is the most important with a tough cut like skirt steak: Be sure to slice against the grain for the tenderest results. Pretty, right? Blurry too. Oh, shaky hands. How I love thee.

Braised Short Ribs

It's January, it's cold, I'm broke...basically, braising is calling my name! As you probably already know, braising is a cooking technique in which the main ingredient is seared, or browned in fat, and then simmered in liquid on low heat in a covered pot. Braising relies on heat, time, and moisture to successfully break down tough connective tissue and collagens in meats, making it an ideal way to cook tougher cuts.


One person that understands the cold in this family is Aunt Andrea Hairston, who left the flat mild Delta winters for the mountains of snowy Idaho years ago. She submitted this delicious-sounding Braised Short Ribs recipe for our cookbook. I decided to take a stab at cooking at her recipe today, but since I'm a loner, I decided to cut the recipe in half for little old me.



ingredients for original recipe, feeds 4-6:

3 lbs. beef short ribs
3/4 cup rice
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 t. beef flavored gravy base or 2 bouillon cubes
pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery (i loathe celery, so i left this out of mine)
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
2 1/4 cup water
2 t. salt
1 t. Worcestershire sauce


In a heavy skillet, brown ribs with added fat. Fat? How do I get my thighs in this pan? Fine, I'll use butter.


Allow 25-30 minutes for browning. Season with a little salt.


Remove to a 3 quart casserole, cover and bake in slow oven at 325 for 1 hour.


Meanwhile, in the skillet in which the meat was browned, combine rice, onions, celery and green pepper. Cook until rice is lightly browned.


After meat has baked for 1 hour, remove ribs from casserole and pour off fat. Place browned rice mixture into casserole.
Top with ribs.
Combine remaining ingredients into a small saucepan and heat to boiling. Pour over ribs and rice.

Cover and bake 1 hour more. Look how yummy!


And serve.... this was delicious. I served with some steamed spinach but any green veg would be great with it. Thanks, Aunt Andrea, for a fabulous recipe!