Recipe from New Orleans - Red Beans

I wandered the French Quarter on Memorial Day with Lia and Linn, my hostesses. One of the niftier spots in the Quarter I didn’t even know was there – the French Market.

For those who don’t know, the French Market is a huge open air marketplace. Half of it is set up for various flea market type vendors – jewelry, handcrafts, pens, t-shirts, and other assorted random items. The other half is a farmer’s market, which I did not get to wander around enough.
In the middle of the farmer’s market, there is a spot called (I think) N’awlins Cajun and Creole Spices, selling just that – plus hot sauces. According to the decorated bag that they give you at the counter, they have hundreds of hot sauces and Louisiana spices. On one of the narrow sides of the bag, they list some of the spices and such they have to offer. On the other narrow side, recipes.

I’ve been trying to bring up their website all week, but I haven’t had any luck yet – so if anyone wants to give it a try, you should be able to get to it here. I’ll keep trying myself, and if I need to edit the link I will.

In the meantime – straight from the side of my shopping bag, here’s a recipe for Red Beans.

Red Beans

Serves 8

1 lb red beans
1 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
Celery
1 lb smoked sausage or hot sausage
2 tablespoons Cajun season

Rinse beans and remove bad ones. Fill large pot with the beans and add water to cover. Let this boil for approximately 1 hour, adding water as needed, and add seasoning and parsley flakes. Let beans cook until soft, then add onion, garlic, celery, and sausage along with some butter. Cook on low until creamy and serve over rice.

Notes form the Hare

Not surprisingly, they recommend N’Awlins Cajun Seasoning.

This is copied pretty much word for word from the bag – so I’m not sure how much celery they suggest or how much butter. Once I get to their site I’ll nose around and see if there’s another recipe and make adjustments to this one.