Emeril's One-Pot Blogger Cooking Party: Red Bean and Rice Soup

Hi guys!  Happy Sunday!  It's a beautiful mid-70s degree day here in Cleveland today and I'm about to head out to the Browns game.  Go Browns!  But before I do, I wanted to tell you about another recipe from Emeril's new cookbook, Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders.  I think this one was my favorite so far because it's spicy and tangy... two of my favorite things in a dish.  Plus, now that I've got football on the brain, I just realized how perfect this dish would be to make ahead of time and bring to a tailgate party before the game!  Yum!

A lot of times when making a dish using a recipe, I'll substitute something or do something a little different and gear it more towards my taste.  For this dish, I didn't so much change the ingredients, but I changed the technique completely.  You see, this recipe is actually one of the slow-cooker recipes in the book, but I needed to make it fairly quickly last week, so I decided to make it in my stock pot instead.  So I'm going to describe to you how I made this soup my way, but you can also check out how it's made in a slow cooker, plus get the recipe, by ordering Emeril's book. 

After the jump, I'll show you how this spicy stew is made.  Also, don't forget to check out more recipes cooked for you by my food blogger buddies here:

Bite and Booze and on Facebook here.
Just off the Red Streetcar Line and on Facebook here.
Diabetic Foodie and on Facebook here.
Tracey's Culinary Adventures and on Facebook here.
The Boys Made Me Do It! and on Facebook here.
Mommy Hates Cooking and on Facebook here.
Farmgirl Gourmet and on Facebook here.
Cajun Chef Ryan and on Facebook here.
Savoring Today and on Facebook here.
Not Rachael Ray and on Facebook here.
Miss in the Kitchen and on Facebook here.
30AEATS and on Facebook here.
Foodhunters Guide to Cuisine and on Facebook here.
Thyme in our Kitchen and on Facebook here.
Cooking with Books and on Facebook here.
Goov-y Foody and on Facebook here.
Manges! Mangi! and on Facebook here.
The Wicked Noodle and on Facebook here.
Cookistry and on Facebook here.

Also, check out Emeril's Facebook page here: Emeril Lagasse and follow him on Twitter here: @Emeril and check out Emeril's publishing company, Morrow Publishing, blogging here: The Secret Ingredient, and on Twitter here: @MorrowCooks, and on Facebook here: Morrow Cooks.


So I started by sauteing some onion, celery, green bell pepper, cilantro, and jalapeno in some olive oil. 



Next, I added some minced garlic, and after that became fragrant after about a minute, I added the chorizo sausage (raw), that I removed from the casings and broke up into bit sized pieces.  We used some of our homemade chorizo sausage.  Stir everything together so the chorizo can begin to brown.
 



Next, I added a can of diced tomatoes, some tomato puree, 2 bay leaves, some oregano, cayenne pepper, and a couple swirls of extra virgin olive oil.  Stir that all up to combine, keeping your fire up nice and high to bring everything up to temperature.

























Then, I added the chicken stock, stirred again, and left the heat on high to bring the entire mixture to a bubble.  At this point I tasted the soup to check if it needed more salt.  I hadn't added any yet, but I knew the chorizo sausage was pretty salty, so I wanted to wait until now before adding any more.  It did need some salt, so I added it at this time.

 

Last, I added the rice right into the soup and stirred to combine.  I also added the canned red beans at this time since they're already cooked and just needed to be heated through in the soup.  I lowered the heat so that the soup was just at a simmer to stay hot and cook the rice.  After about 10 minutes, or when the rice is fully cooked and tender, the soup was ready to serve.



So that was MY way of making this soup without using a slow cooker.  However, I'm sure this recipe would be outstanding using a slow cooker and no doubt would have your house smelling amazing when you got home from work after cooking all day.  And like I said, this would be perfect for taking to a tailgate party with a package of those styrofoam bowls, plastic spoons, and a ladle, especially on those cooler weather football game days. 

So if you like spicy dishes like I do, be sure to check this one out!