Sausage, Rice & Beans for One

This is another dinner inspired by a leftover. We had some wonderful Polish & Ukrainian sausage from an amazing Eastern European deli in Northeast Minneapolis, Kramarczuk's, at our beer tasting this weekend. There were a few sliced left so Matt suggested I use them to make beans & rice for myself this week.

I typically would have let the beans cook with the rice in a recipe like this but it seems so often my dried beans are not getting tender enough in time & I end up overcooking the rest of the food. This time I cooked the beans to tender & then just added them in at the end so they had the perfect texture. You could stop cooking the beans a little earlier than I did & add them in with the rice to finish them off. If you do that I would add a little more broth.

Sausage, Rice & Beans

1/4 c dried red beans

1/2 T olive oil

1/4 c red onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T chopped red onion

1/2 c link sausage, diced (I used a good garlicy Polish)

1/2 T tomato paste

pinch of smoked paprika

pinch of chipotle powder

1/2 c of diced fire roasted tomatoes

1/4 c basmati rice

1/2 c chicken stock

salt & pepper

Put the dried beans in a pan with 3/4 c water & bring to a boil. Let boil for two minutes. Remove from heat & cover. Let sit for 1 hour. Bring to a simmer & simmer gently for 60 - 90 minutes until tender, adding more water if needed. Drain & set aside.

In a medium saucepan heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic & sausage and cook until the onion begins to get translucent. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika & chipotle powder, cook for about a minute. Add the tomatoes, rice & chicken stock & bring to a boil. Reduce heat & cover. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Add the beans & heat through, adding more broth if its a little dry.

1 serving

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