Red Beans and Rice (From Dave Cash)

* 3 lbs dried, soaked red beans
* uh uhnion, chopped
* Gramps, the green bell pepper, chopped
* several good shakes of chili powder
* a nice bit of cumin
* enough Hungarian paprika to make its people proud
* small pile of black pepper
* three or ten (or none) heaping tablespoons of chopped garlic
* (possibly) another spoonful of garlic

Throw everything into a 5.5-qt. crockpot (after the beans have been soaked for at least three hours and the water changed) and cook on high setting overnight. Feeds about 15 hungry friends.

Barry did a pressure cooker version of the recipe too.
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In January of 2005, I sent the following letter with this recipe to food columnist Judyrae Kruse of the Everett (Washington) Herald, and the recipe was published. Following is the letter with the story of Dave’s Red Beans and Rice:

Hello!
My husband and I recently lived in New Orleans for five months. While there, we were delighted to meet Dave Cash, who serves up red beans and rice to his friends every Monday. Dave tells us that Monday beans is a tradition in New Orleans; in the old days, women who worked on plantations did laundry that day. The beans would simmer on the fire all day and be served up with minimal fuss in the evening, when the laundry-workers were tired. This works for Dave, too, who works all day while his beans simmer in the crockpot.

Since Dave is vegan, his recipe is as well. We are not vegetarians ourselves, but we like the recipe so much we usually cook it as is. Other times we have added some spicy sausage to the beans with great success.

Now that we’re back home, we still fix Dave’s recipe every Monday. In keeping with his generous tradition, we’ve invited all our friends to join us for a hot, steaming bowl served over rice.

Margaret Schulte