Lighter Red Beans & Rice

I'll be honest, I have never actually had New Orleans style Red Beans & Rice.  We have this children's book we read to my son and it is all about saying goodnight to the staples and iconic things of New Orleans.  It's called, "Goodnight NOLA." It has this whole page devoted to Red Beans & Rice.  Yes, it's artist's depiction it but it looks so delicious I want a bowl of it every time.  We've been reading the book for 3.5 years since my sister bought the book for my son.  Tonight was the night!    It as a pantry night and whatever would defrost fast enough for a delish dinner that wouldn't require ample amounts of effort.  I looked in my freezer and found chicken breast, and an andouille sausage.  I remembered I had made chicken stock from the leftovers of a rotisserie chicken I had earlier.  My first thought was jumbalaya... then I remembered Goodnight NOLA and ventured off into the parts unknown.  Here is the recipe I created after quickly researching ingredients in Red Beans & Rice.

Traditionally Red Beans & Rice are made with pork or ham.  I had neither when I decided to make this but figured I could lighten up the traditional recipe by using chicken stock (home-made) and boneless skinless chicken breast.  And it was a great substitution in my humble opinion!

Red Beans & Rice 

Ingredients:
3 Cans  of Red Beans
1 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (pictured is 2, but I ended up needing only 1)
1 Large Andouille Sausage
2 Small Potatoes
1 Onion
1 Green Pepper
4 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1 Tbsp of Olive Oil
2 Cups Chicken Stock
1 Tbsp Cajun's Choice Creole Seasoning
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

Directions:
Take chicken breast and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and let marinate for a few minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Take a large pot and heat over medium heat.  Add 1-2 Tbsp of Olive Oil, enough to thinly coat the surface when heated.

Once oil is heated add chicken and let it brown for 3-4 minutes until golden.  Then flip the chicken and brown the other side another 3-4 minutes.  Then let it heat another 1-2 minutes on each side.  Take it out of pan and let it rest on a plate.  (*Note chicken does not need to be thoroughly cooked throughout at this point.  If it is pink or slightly pink that is fine.)

While you are browning chicken, dice the pepper, onion and potatoes small.  Mince the garlic finely.  Slice the andouille sausage thin. (I like to set everything chopped up on the side to add in later one by one.)

When the chicken is done add all the vegetables and sausage to the pan and reduce heat to medium low.  Stir the vegetables every minute or two until they start to soften and all the bits of chicken from the bottom of the pan are loose.  Add Tomato Paste and stir until mixed and fragrant.


Add 2 cans of the beans with all liquids from the can.  Add 2 cups of Chicken Stock and turn stove to Medium high.While you are waiting for the pot to come to a light boil.  Dice up the now cooler chicken.  Once you are done throw that directly into the pot and stir.

Add the Creole seasoning.  (We like our food pretty flavorful and spicy and the seasoning we used was not overly spicy.  But if you are shy about spicy food, I would say cut back to about 3/4 or 1/2 a Tbsp instead.  You can always add a pinch to your bowl later.)

Next take the last can of beans and drain them.  Take about half of them and dump them in the pot.  The other half you are going to process or puree them.  I recommend using the Tupperware Chop 'N Prep to puree them into a paste.  If you don't have this wonderful kitchen tool than you can drag out the big old food processor or blender and puree them lightly until they are a paste.

Add the paste to the pot and stir them in well.  You will see the broth begin to thicken and look delicious.  Turn the pot to low and let it bubble away a little bit and it will start to thicken.

I forgot to mention that you probably should have already been cooking the rice.  However, this is something that can just sit on low heat while you stir it occasionally.  It will only make it yummier!  So if you haven't made your white rice, do that now according to the package instructions.  (I like to add salt & lots of onion powder to our white rice.)

Once your rice is done, scoop a generous helping of rice in a bowl and cover it in some Red Beans NOLA style! ENJOY!