NOTRE CUISINE ACADIENNE...

TITLE PINTO BEANS WITH ANDOUILLE
HISTORY This recipe is one from down Louisiana-way. It comes from a dear friend, MizMo (Aline Theriot Meaux). She opened with the following in a letter to me this evening (Monday, 26 March 2001).

"There is a town in France by the name of Andouille.  In Louisiana, an andouille is a spicy smoked sausage, and the town of LaPlace calls itself the "andouille capital of the world."  (My son Dave lives there, and his wife sends me a few pounds of andouille every winter.) And what do I use it for?  It's great added to a pot of chicken gumbo, and even better cooked with dried pinto beans. 

You know, in the old days, the farm wives dried surplus beans to preserve them.  Almost every kitchen had crocks of dried beans, ready to use in the winter time."

INGREDIENTS
  • l pound of pinto beans, soaked overnight in cold water. 
  • l/2 pound of andouille sausage 
  • About 15 small "salad size" okra 
  • 1 large onion, chopped fine 
  • 1 pod of elephant garlic (or 2 small 
  • pods of purple Louisiana garlic) 
PREPARATION  Put soaked beans into large, heavy pot and cover with water.  Place on stove and bring to brisk boil.  Add all other ingredients except okra and reduce heat to medium/low.  Cook until beans are tender. 

Add seasoning after beans are done.  (You may not wish to add more seasoning, because the 
sausage is so spicy.) 

The okra is "planted" tip down and submerged completely into the pot of beans after the beans are tender and cooked for about 20 minutes. 

Serve a few spoonfuls of beans, including some of the okra, over a bed of freshly cooked rice.  Mais, c'est bon, mon ami!        ~MizMo

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