Red Beans And Rice With Smoked Sausage- New Orleans Style

• 1 lb dried red beans, rinsed and sorted
• 1 1/2 lbs good-quality smoked sausage, cut into chunks
• 1/2 lb smoked ham hocks or 1/2 lb ham shanks
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, seeded, deveined and diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)
• salt
• 3 -4 cups freshly cooked rice
• hot sauce

1. Place beans in Dutch oven and cover generously with water; let soak 30 minutes.
2. Add all remaining ingredients to beans except salt, rice, and hot sauce.
3. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until beans are tender, adding more water if necessary, about 2 1/2 hours.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Discard ham bones after cutting any meat from them into bite-sized pieces; return meat to pot.
7. Remove about 1/2 cup of beans from mixture and mash to a paste.
8. Return mashed beans to pot and stir through.
9. Simmer 15 more minutes.
10. Serve hot over rice: pass hot sauce, if desired.

red beans, sausage, ham shanks, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, thyme, fresh ground pepper, sage, cayenne pepper, salt, hot sauce

Taken from www.food.com/recipe/red-beans-and-rice-with-smoked-sausage-new-orleans-style-231155 (may not work)