New Orleans Red Beans & Rice (that locals make)

Prep:

1. Rinse the dried beans under cold water (in a strainer) and sort them. This means looking out for any broken pieces or rocks and removing them -this is rare, but it happens.

Make the red beans:

1. Heat a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the oil. Add the oil, and once warm, add the onions, bell peppers, celery, and garlic. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring throughout, until the vegetables are tender. Add the seasonings and stir and toast them with the vegetables for about a minute.
2. Add the kidney beans, smoked sausage or ham hock, water, and bay leaves to the pot and stir to combine. Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer until the beans are tender, about 2.5 hours, returning to stir the beans from time to time. The beans can be cooked longer, up to 5 hours. The longer they are cooked, the thicker and more tender they'll be, omitting the thickening step.

Cook the rice:

1. Before serving, follow the package directions and cook the white rice.

Thicken the red beans:

1. For a thick red beans liquid, ladle out 1 ½ cups of cooked red beans into a blender, returning any ham or sausage pieces to the pot. Blend until smooth. Pour the smooth mixture back into the pot, and stir to incorporate. This is an optional but very authentic step to New Orleans red beans.

Serve:

1. Remove the bay leaves from the pot. If using a bone-in ham, remove the bone from the pot onto a cutting board, separate any ham meat from the bone, and return it to the pot.
2. Ladle beans into a bowl and serve rice on top or on one side of the beans.

Store:

1. Refrigerate cooled red beans in a separate air-tight container from the rice for up to 3 days. Red beans can be frozen for up to 3 months.