Recipe(tried): Red Beans and Rice and Paula Deen's Cream Biscuits

It's chilly here in MA so I made Red Beans and Rice, Jimmy Dean Sausage patties, a green salad, and Paula Deen's Cream Biscuits. I have used the Red Bean and Rice recipe for years but this was the first time that I tried Paula Deen's Cream Biscuits. They were wonderful and very easy! As for the sausage patties - DH's mother always served sausage patties and biscuits with red beans and rice so that's what I always serve. I'm not sure, but they may more traditionally be served with ham and French bread??!?

This recipe is from the Time/Life Foods of The World series. The cookbooks were published back in the early 1970's.

American Cooking: Creole and Acadian is the actual book the recipe is from. We like this recipe a lot. I have used it for years.

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RED BEANS AND RICE
Servings: 4-6

6 cups water
1 pound dried small red beans or 1 pound dried red kidney beans
4 Tbsp. butter
1 cup finely chopped scallions, including 3 inches of the green tops
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 tsp. finely chopped garlic
1 (1 pound) smoked ham hock* (I used two smaller ones.)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
6 to 8 cups freshly cooked long-grained rice

In a heavy 3-4 quart saucepan, bring water to a boil over high heat. Drop in the beans and boil briskly, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the beans soak for 1 hour. Alternatively, you can soak the beans over night in water. In either case, drain and rinse the beans in a sieve set over a large bowl. Set the beans aside.

Melt the butter in a heavy 4 or 5 quart casserole or stockpot. When the foam begins to subside, add 1/2 cup of the scallions, the onions and the garlic and, stirring frequently, cook for about 5 min, or until they are soft and translucent but not brown.

Stir in the beans and 4 cups water, the ham hocks, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the beans are quite soft. Check the pot from time to time and, if the beans seem dry, add up to 1 cup more water, a few tablespoons at a time. During the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, stir frequently and mash some of the softest beans against the side of the pan to form a thick sauce for the remaining beans.

With tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the ham hocks to a plate. Cut the meat away from the bones and remove and discard the skin, fat and gristle. Cut the meat into 1/4 inch dice and return it to the beans.

Taste the beans for seasoning and serve at once, directly from a large heated tureen. Place the rice and remaining 1/2 cup of scallions in separate bowls and present them with the beans.

*Note: In Louisiana, red beans and rice are traditionally made with a leftover ham bone and you may substitute a ham bone for the ham hocks in this recipe. Without trimming off the meat, cut the bone into 2 or 3 inch pieces with a hacksaw, so that the marrow inside the pieces will melt and flavor the beans. Add the pieces of bone to the soaked beans and water and pour in enough additional water to cover then completely. When the beans are cooked, remove the bones from the pot, trim off and dice the meat, and return it to the beans. Discard the bones.

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CREAM BISCUITS
From Paula Deen

2 cups self-rising flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream*

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and cream until the dough forms a ball.

Turn the dough out onto surface dusted with additional flour. Fold the dough in 1/2 and knead 5 to 7 tomes, adding just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to your hands.

Gently roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter coated with flour, cut dough into biscuits. Place on prepared baking sheet, leaving 1-inch between each biscuit.

Bake 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

*I used less cream than the recipe called for - about 1 1/4 cups of cream, and I still had to use a substantial amount of additional flour in order to make the dough less sticky so I could knead it and pat/roll it out to a 1/2-inch thickness. If you use the full amount of cream, you may want to make drop biscuits rather than ones you cut out.