Farewell to the Incredible Leah Chase

[heidih]

She was a stellar culinary and cultural figure.  https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/02/us/chef-leah-chase-death-trnd/index.html

[suzilightning]

Yeah, saw that this morning.  Didn't get to meet her but ate at Dookie Chases's by myself when we were down in Slidell in 1985 for John's work.  I took a Gray Line tour bus into the city.  They dropped me in front of the Superdome and I had 8 hours to do whatever I wanted until I had to meet up with the bus in the French Quarter near Café du Monde and the Moon walk.  Audubon Zoo, lunch at Dookie Chase's, the streetcar ride with the dude in a pink tutu......

[heidih]

Kim Severson of the NY Times was a huge fan: her article  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/us/leah-lange-chase-died.html

[weinoo]

A giantess.

[SLB]

The bean of the week this week is gonna be red.  Red beans n rice n sausages.

 

Note:  Leah Chase's recipe for red beans involves a pound of smoked ham  AND a pound of smoked sausage.  For a pound of beans.

 

That girl did not play.  

 

And they saw her off well:  https://expo.nola.com/life-and-culture/g66l-2019/06/08353ff3d11110/celebrating-the-life-of-leah-chase-with-a-popup-secondline-in-new-orleans.html?fbclid=IwAR0WzrFgYuKYM-WkVW0ztBLQDQroJgWtKYmuUc_aIU98Te-wiis6jTRSpoA

[Smithy]

What a lovely send-off. Thank you for that link, @SLB!

[kayb]

On 6/4/2019 at 11:38 AM, SLB said:

The bean of the week this week is gonna be red.  Red beans n rice n sausages.

 

Note:  Leah Chase's recipe for red beans involves a pound of smoked ham  AND a pound of smoked sausage.  For a pound of beans.

 

That girl did not play.  

 

 

Doesn't everyone's? I put chicken in mine, too.

[SLB]

Chicken parts on top of two pounds of smoked pork? 

 

Girl.  Those sound like some hella-good beans.  

[kayb]

They ARE some hella-good beans. My out-of-town child begs for them when she comes to visit. I try to comply, although they're more of a cold-weather dish to me. They freeze well, too.

 

You didn't ask, but the recipe, as nearly as I can transcribe it, is:

 

1 pound small red or kidney beans

1-2 pints chicken stock

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (tomatoes with green chiles)

1 pound andouille sausage, cut in 1/3 inch slices and browned in a skillet

1 pound ham, either boiled from a hambone and shredded/chopped, or just diced

1 to 1 1/2 pound chicken thighs, poached, deboned, skinned and shredded (about 3/4 pound of meat)

1 large onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

Pepper powders of your choice

2 bay leaves

Lawry's seasoned salt, as needed

 

Soak and cook beans. Drain. In a big Dutch oven, in a couple of tablespoons of oil, saute the onion and garlic until soft. Add beans. Add a pint of chicken stock and tomatoes, browned sausage, diced ham and shredded chicken. Season with pepper powders of your choice (WalMart carries a powdered pico de gallo seasoning, and I generally use that and a little ancho, maybe some guajillo) and a couple of bay leaves. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer for an hour or so. About an hour into cooking, taste and season with seasoned salt to taste (I wait because the sausage and ham both add a decent bit of salt to the dish, depending on the kind you use). Simmer on very low heat for another hour or two. Add more chicken stock as needed to keep it as thin as you want. Serve over white rice.

 

I will occasionally use a pre-mixed Cajun seasoning, but they tend to be salt-heavy, and I'm salt-sensitive. It's really easy to oversalt things for my taste buds. And when the grocery periodically has smoked turkey legs in its meat case, I'll use that instead of chicken thighs. 

 

These are far from traditional New Orleans red beans and rice. The woman who taught me to make them, and whose approximate recipe I use, is from Vicksburg, Miss., so maybe these are the Mississippi version.

 

 

 

[SLB]

This seems like something Ms. Leah might've liked . . . .

 

Thanks!