John's Creole Red Beans

Ingredients

• 2  bay leaves 
• 14.5 ounce canned tomatoes crushed canned
• 3 rib celery chopped
• 32 ounce chicken broth 
• 8 servings rice hot cooked
• 3  garlic cloves minced
• 1 medium size bell pepper green chopped
• 8 servings garnish: green onions chopped
• 1 large onion chopped
• 0.5 teaspoon pepper 
• 16 ounce kidney beans dried red
• 0.5 teaspoon salt 
• 1 pound spicy sausage smoked
• 1 teaspoon sugar 
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
• 3.5 cups water 

Equipment

• paper towels
• slotted spoon
• dutch oven

Directions

1. Rinse and sort beans according to package directions.
2. Place beans in a Dutch oven; cover with water 2 inches above beans, and let soak 8 hours.
3. Drain beans, and rinse thoroughly; drain and set aside.
4. Cut smoked sausage into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
5. Saut sausage in hot oil in Dutch oven over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes or until sausage is golden brown.
6. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in Dutch oven. (Store sausage in refrigerator until you're ready to stir into bean mixture.)
7. Add celery and next 3 ingredients to hot drippings, and saut 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
8. Add tomatoes, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 7 minutes.
9. Stir in beans, broth, and next 5 ingredients; increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Boil 10 minutes; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until beans are tender. Stir in sausage, and simmer 30 more minutes.
10. Serve over hot cooked rice.
11. Garnish, if desired.
12. Note: For quick soaking, place kidney beans in a Dutch oven; cover with water 2 inches above beans, and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute; cover, remove from heat, and let stand 1 hour.
13. Drain as directed, and proceed with recipe. For testing purposes only, we used Conecuh Original Smoked Sausage, which is spicy.