One of my favorite foods ever is New Orleans cream-style navy beans. Cream-style beans are essentially cooked so long they almost form this wonderful beany paste. They are typically served over rice and have a...well...creamy texture. This is my favorite way to prepare them. White rice is more traditional, but it's actually pretty good over brown rice if you prefer to be healthier.
This version is vegetarian. Hambone, sliced sausage, or cubed diced ham all add wonderful seasoning. (Obviously, you don't eat the ham bone.)
I don't soak my beans...a lot of people do, but I don't. You can, of course, add the step of soaking by covering the beans with water overnight.
Salt shouldn't be added until the end of the cooking time, because it will cause the hulls of the beans to become tough. I add a little while I'm cooking the onions, but other than that I don't add until the end. We want creamy, smooth, tasty, deliciously awesome beans!
I typically use my 5-quart crockpot for this recipe. It comes out absolutely fantastic. It can also be cooked on the stove top.
Cream-style Navy Beans and Rice
One pound navy beans
6 cups of water
1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 medium onion,diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 stalk of celery, washed, ends chopped off, diced
3-4 heads of garlic, smashed and chopped
3-4 green onions (about 1/2 cup), chopped and set aside
Coarse salt
1 pinch red pepper flakes
Black pepper, freshly ground
White or brown rice, optional, as much to your liking
Directions:
In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the onion with a small pinch of salt and saute until the onions are soft and beginning to brown. Add the bell pepper and celery and saute until softened (it's okay if they brown a little, just make sure it doesn't burn.)
Add the garlic. Be careful to make sure it doesn't burn! Move them around in the pan as it cooks. After about 30-45 seconds, the garlic should begin to smell fragrant. Remove from the heat and add to a large food processor. Grind the vegetables until they are uniform and mostly smooth- they won't smooth out completely, but will mostly become a paste.
Wash the beans. Add to the slow-cooker. Add the vegetable paste, then add 6 cups of water. Put in a pinch of red pepper flakes and black pepper.
Set the slow-cooker on High and allow to cook for 4-5 hours.
At this point, the beans should be nearly "creamy". You will be able to see the shape of most of the beans, but they won't be distinct and separate. This is perfect. This is exactly what you want! Heh. The texture should be thick, but not dry or gritty.
If after 4-5 hours there is too much moisture, or the beans are too watery, or you're just in a hurry, use an immersion blender to blend up some of the beans. You don't want a complete paste, you just want a..semi-paste, for lack of a better description.
Add salt to taste. Stir the salt in, then add 1/2 cup green onions. Or more if you'd like. I personally am pretty obsessed with green onions, and have no problem adding 1 full cup. I am also not object to using the white as well as the green parts!
Spoon the beans over rice or just into a bowl. Eat and enjoy!
One of these days, I promise I will have pictures with my blog posts, once I figure out how all this works! Yay!
