Vegetarian Red Beans & Rice

Probably the most famous dish in New Orleans. Traditionally served on Mondays, so the leftover ham, and ham bone, from Sunday lunch would not go to waste, red beans and rice is a staple of all locals in New Orleans. You can find many, many recipes for red beans and rice. The one I am posting today DOES NOT have meat in it. But you can easily add diced ham, sausage (andouille) or bacon to the recipe and have a legitimate New Orleans-style red beans and rice. And any true New Orleanian will tell you, it isn't the meat, it's the beans that make the dish. Finding red beans is hard outside of Louisiana, but you can substitute red kidney beans.

***BEANS MUST SOAK FOR 8 HOURS BEFORE COOKING***

Prep Time: 3 hours Servings: 16

1 pound dried red beans, rinsed and sorted over $1.00
1 chopped yellow onion $1.00
1 chopped celery bunch $2.00
1 chopped green bell peppers $.80
salt and pepper $.10
Pinch cayenne $.10
3 bay leaves $.10
2 tablespoons parsley $.20
2 teaspoons thyme $.10
3 cloves chopped garlic $.10
10 cups water
4 cups cooked white rice $.75
EVOO: $.15

Total Cost $6.40 Cost per serving $.42

Place the beans in a large bowl or pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Let soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain and set aside.

In a large pot, heat the EVOO over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery and bell peppers to the oil in the pot. Season with the salt, pepper, and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes. Add the bay leaves, parsley, thyme, (and this is where you would add your sausage, ham and/or ham hocks if so desired) and cook, stirring, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans and water, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about 2 hours. (Should the beans become too thick and dry, add more water, about 1/4 cup at a time.)

Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves.

Broiled Tilapia with mixed vegetable and brown rice

This is a really easy meal to make, and it is really good for you, too. Tilapia is a great fish that is inexpensive and easy to find. I used Emeril's Original Essence on my Tilapia fillets with a little salt and pepper, but you can use anything dry you can think of.

Prep Time: 20 minutes (or however long it takes to cook rice)

For TWO PEOPLE
2 Tilapia Fillets $6
1 zucchini $.50
1 squash $.50
8 oz. of brown rice $.85
16 oz. of water $.00
1 tbsp. butter $.20
1 tbsp. EVOO $.25
parsley $.10
thyme $.10
salt and pepper $.05
Dry seasoning for tilapia $.10

Total: $8.65 or $4.33 a serving


Preheat your oven to BROIL. Drizzle EVOO in a oven-safe pan or dish. Place the tilapia fillets in the pan and drizzle a bit of EVOO on them and coat with your seasoning. Once your oven is preheated, you will broil the tilapia 5 minutes on one side. Take the pan out. Flip the fillet. Coat the other side with EVOO and seasoning and return to the oven with the newly seasoned half facing up. Broil for five minutes and it's done.

To sautee fresh veg is easy. Slice your squash and zucchini into wheels, and you can get as small as you'd like or keep them in cirlces. Heat 2 tbsp of EVOO in a pan. Once it is warm, drop in the zucchini and squash. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme. Toss veg around for approx. 5 minutes. You want them to be slightly soft, but with a bit of crunch still. Don't cook them into transparent mush.

And brown rice is easy. 2 to 1 water to rice. So boil two cups of water. Drop in the rice and let cook over medium heat for approx. 20 minutes. The rice is done cooking when there is no water left in the pot and the rice is tender. The New Orleans way to cook rice is to put the rice into the boiling water, and to not disturb it at all through the cooking process. This will cause a lot of rice to stick to your pan, and clean up will be lengthy, but it ensures well cooked rice.
When your brown rice is done you can drop in a tbsp. of butter and stir in some salt and pepper and parsley. Easy.