Red Beans and Rice With Smoked Sausage- New Orleans Style

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried red beans, rinsed and sorted
• 1 1/2 lbs good-quality smoked sausage, cut into chunks
• 1/2 lb smoked ham hock or ham shanks
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, seeded, deveined and diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)
• salt
• 3-4 cups freshly cooked rice
• hot sauce

Directions

1. 1

   Place beans in Dutch oven and cover generously with water; let soak 30 minutes.

2. 2

   Add all remaining ingredients to beans except salt, rice, and hot sauce.

3. 3

   Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

4. 4

   Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until beans are tender, adding more water if necessary, about 2 1/2 hours.

5. 5

   Add salt to taste.

6. 6

   Discard ham bones after cutting any meat from them into bite-sized pieces; return meat to pot.

7. 7

   Remove about 1/2 cup of beans from mixture and mash to a paste.

8. 8

   Return mashed beans to pot and stir through.

9. 9

   Simmer 15 more minutes.

10. 10

    Serve hot over rice: pass hot sauce, if desired.