"Red Beans & Rice"

Well the first challenge has been eaten. Today I made Red Beans & Rice from "Delilah's Everyday Soul". I followed the recipe, which was quite difficult seeing as I usually just use recipes as "guidelines" or inspiration.

I am a Southern Girl, born and raised in Florida. I know how to make Red Beans & Rice, and the first BIG difference between what I make and this recipe was that it did NOT have the Holy Trinity in it that most Southern dishes start with. For those of you not from the south, a Holy Trinity is the combination of chopped onion, celery and green bell pepper (capsicum) that is used to start almost any slow cooked or stewed item in southern cooking. Other than that the recipe sounded pretty good and easy to make. It's mostly about stirring to keep the beans from sticking and waiting for the beans to cook. Mine took about 3 hours. I also made the Corn Bread recipe that was suggested to serve with it. I did have to make one substitution though. The recipe calls for Andouille sausage, which unfortunately is not available here and I didn't have time to make it. I substituted with Chorizo.

The results: It was quite tasty! The dish was very rich and satisfying, and I'm not sure I missed the celery or peppers. I served it with steamed white rice and the YUMMY corn bread that was suggested. Steve (my hubby) was my taste tester this evening, he was also raised in the south. He said it was really good. I think that I would have liked it to be a bit spicier, but I think you loose a bit of heat not having the Andouille sausage which is usually more spicy than the Chorizo I substituted with. Would I make it again? Totally.

I'm still looking into copyright issues and whether or not I can post someone else's published recipe. But you can google it in the mean time or stop by and borrow the book.

Steve has chosen my next Book/Recipe, and boy is it a doozy. Probably going to have to wait till next weekend as it has heaps of steps and ingredients. And the recipe is...
"Black Olive and Veal Stew Millefueille with
Basil Flavoured Piatelli Bean Puree" from the book Italy's Great Chefs and their secrets. Sounds delicious!!

The Book: Delilah's Every Day Soul
                Soulful Cooking with Style
Author: Delilah Winder
The Recipe: Red Beans & Rice, Corn Bread