Red Bean Crock Pot Chowder

Winter is cold here in Taos.  The thermometer read 9 degrees this morning, perfect weather for crockpot cooking.   I am grateful for radiant heat floors, and a husband who makes the trek to the grocery store to get the goods.

Ingredients:

Corn chips and good red wine

Small red beans (dry beans)
one red onion (white or yellow will work just as well)
one cup chopped celery
one half package of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage (no garlic)
small can corn
small can green beans
Chicken broth
1 tsp ground rosemary
1 tsp ground sage
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp black and red pepper
2 tsp quality salt

Start the night before by rinsing small dried red beans.  Or take a shortcut and get two cans of red kidney beans, drain and rinse and put into the crockpot.   I like the ritual of soaking beans overnight.

Drain and rinse beans.  Put into crockpot, add enough water to cover plus one inch.  I used chicken bone broth.  One cup of dried beans, one and one half cup of bone broth plus one cup of water.  No Salt.  Salt makes the beans tough and take longer to cook.

Canned beans are already cooked, so skip to browning the sausage and continue the directions from there.

Turn crockpot on high and let the beans cook for four to five hours, until tender.  Do not over cook.

While the beans are cooking, brown sausage.  Set aside.

Thinly slice onion and saute in sausage drippings.
Add bacon fat or olive oil if pan gets too dry; saute until nearly caramelized.  The flavor is worth the time it takes to caramelize the onion.  Nom nom.    Set aside.  

Add celery and saute for another two to five minutes.

I keep the sausage, onions, celery in a bowl until the beans are done.

Once the beans are ready, soft and tender,  use an immersion blender to emulsify about 1/3 of the beans in the crock pot.

Add seasonings, bowl of sausage/celery/onion, corn, and green beans.

Put the lid on the crock pot and return to boil.  Turn off crock pot and let sit until ready for dinner.

Put in big bowls over corn chips and serve up with a hearty red wine.

This will freeze well unless potatoes are added.  Boiled Red potatoes are a good choice to add if serving a larger crowd.