Brazilian Feijoada (Black bean stew with pork and sausage)

This is by far one of the most flavorful dishes that i make in the kitchen. I absolutely LOVE beans!!!! Kidney beans, canelini beans, black beans. I love them, and the fact that black beans are REAAAAAALLY good for your health is just a plus.

Now, beans can be very bland and the complete opposite of appetizing if not done the right way. You really have to take care of them and in this dish we will  let them cook for a while and then we will enhance its flavor. Guess what we are adding? C'mon guess!!! BACON!!!!! Oh yeah baby, I love bacon and adding it to this recipe will almost not affect the nutritional value of it at all. Now, if you can not eat bacon or do not like bacon (What?!!!!) then its best to leave it out. Once, when I was on some heavy medication, I tried using turkey bacon and things did not go well. Just a heads up so watch out!!!!!

So to start this recipe we will need a 1 lbs package of dry black beans. Lets put that in a big pot, add water, half and onion, a couple bay leaves. Put the lid on and let it boil away for about 45 min - 1 hr. During this cooking process you will need to come by and mix the beans every once in a while, and most likely add water as the cooking takes place. Do not be scared to add too much water, at the end of this dish we will spend some time thickening the sauce. Anyways, after about 50 minutes my beans were at this point.

So I took the lid off and reduced the heat while I prepped the next ingredient.

I took a 2 lbs pork loin and cut it into 2 inch pieces, salt and peppered both sides and browned them with about 2 tblsp of olive oil in a skillet over high heat. (Do not use pork tender loin, it will fall apart with this method.)

After browning, I removed them from the skillet and added to the beans. I again put the lid on, brought mixture to a boil, then reduced the heat to medium and let it go for another 35-45 minutes.

After that cooking, your meat should be tender but not falling apart.

Next step is to add some great flavors to this dish. We are going to slice a couple links of sausage and brown both sides in a skillet over high heat. (Use the same one you did the pork, add more olive oil if necessary)

Add them to the pot and mix.

Next, slice 3-4 strips of thick cut smoked bacon and sautee over medium high heat in that same skillet we have been using. After all the fat has rendered and the bacon starts to become crispy, add 1 chopped onion and sautee for another 4 min or so. Then add your chopped garlic and let it sautee for only a couple  minutes.

Add this mixture to your beans.

As you can see there is still plenty of water in the pan.

After adding your bacon mixture to the beans, season with salt and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, let it boil for about 5 minutes, then reduce your heat to medium,cover the pan and let it thicken for about 30 minutes or so.

After the mixture has thickened to your preference, taste for seasonings and adjust.

Serve over rice and enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 lbs of dry black beans

2 links of smoked sausage

2lbs of pork loin

2 onions divided

2-3 bay leaves

3-4 strips smoked bacon

6-7 fat cloves of garlic

Salt and pepper to taste