We’ve been revisiting some old favorites in our home this winter. It’s been really fun pulling out a recipe that I haven’t made in a very long time and seeing what we think of it now. In many cases, the reason I stopped making certain dishes is because of the kids- if they’re not going to eat something, I’m not likely to make it very often. I do try hard to please everyone if I can. It’s been really fun to see how tastes have changed or improved, and there have been times I’ve also added little tweaks to my old recipes that make them even better.
Last weekend I made an old breakfast-for-dinner favorite, Overnight French Toast. I haven’t made that in ages, and it was just as delicious as I remembered. Abigail and Andy both helped themselves to multiple servings, but alas, Zander still wasn’t a fan. Seriously, if I could only get this kid to appreciate eggs and egg dishes… Anyway, it made three of the four of us happy, so that means it will likely not be made very often yet, but it still was fun to revisit.
As I wasn’t feeling well this weekend, dinners were simple affairs- things I could put together early in the day while I had a small amount of energy, then pop in the oven and not think about it again for a while. One of these dishes was our old favorite Barbecued Kielbasa. I used to make that dish quite often, as sausage is an inexpensive meat to prepare, and while the kids may not be the biggest fan of beans, I usually could get them to eat a few if they were attached to sausage. I couldn’t tell you the last time I made this dish though. Saturday as I tried not to think too hard, I simply grabbed two cups of dried navy beans and got them pre-cooking on the stove. Then I opened the freezer door and found that I had a nice supply of some sausages from Sam’s Club. In this case, they are a BBQ and White Cheddar Chicken Sausage that I had gotten on closeout a while back. Just a touch spicy, I thought the BBQ and cheddar flavors would be awesome in a BBQ bean sauce.
One of the things that I remembered about this dish is that sometimes the onions don’t seem quite cooked through enough, so I decided to get a little radical and precook my onions and garlic. I didn’t do this for long, but I did saute them in olive oil for just a few minutes until translucent. I also added two stalks of celery as well. I really wanted to add some grated carrot, but decided in the end to skip that because I thought that might contribute more sweetness the dish didn’t need.
More and more tweaks piled on. Once the beans were cooked through I put them in a bowl and added my can of diced tomatoes, then I dumped in my lightly cooked vegetables. I looked at the brown sugar and molasses in the recipe and thought about that for a minute. Half a cup of sugar PLUS 1/3 a cup of molasses seemed like a lot of sweetener for the quantity of beans in my bowl. So I only filled my 1/3 cup measure with half that amount of molasses, and then opted for dark brown sugar as my sugar option. I also did not pack the brown sugar. I added a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper, and then slid my slices sausages in before stirring the whole mess together and pouring into my baking dish.
Honestly, had I had cooked beans on hand, this whole thing would have come together in about five minutes time. Granted, the bean cooking was mostly inattentive cooking time, but just one look at my pan and I suddenly couldn’t wait for dinner time. I covered it with foil, set it aside and waited for my oven to heat up so I could let the oven work some magic.
Magic, indeed. It really had been a long time since I made this, and my tweaks just elevated this humble dish in such a delicious way. It was so good. I made this on Saturday, and on Monday night Abigail made it a point to tell me that she was still thinking about those delicious beans from Saturday and how she wished there had been leftovers. That is definitely what I would call high praise! I’m seriously considering making them again this weekend, though I’ll use a little less sausage, as it would be a side dish for something on the grill.
This was bumped right back up into regular rotation. With the right quantity of sausage it makes a perfect main dish with a simple veggie or salad on the side. It also makes a great side dish, and could probably be made without sausage completely if one were so inclined. In that case, I would probably add a little chopped bell pepper for a different flavor. Zander still wasn’t a huge fan, but I think I’ll get him swayed to the bean side before I get him to like eggs. He loved the sausage and ate some of the beans… He’ll come around eventually.
Here is my re-named and updated recipe. For a vegetarian version, just leave the sausage out- if you use the sausage, just use whatever you have on hand.
Barbecued Sausage and Beans
1 pound sausage, cut into coins1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice 2 teaspoons olive oil
1 whole medium onion, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
4 cups cooked white beans (canned or cooked from dried, if using canned, you’ll need three 15 ounce cans) salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for two minutes. Add the garlic and cook for two more minutes. Remove from heat.
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, combine well, and pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.
This could also be cooked in a slow cooker on low for 4-6 hours.