Chorizo Floor Show

I don't ever boast about my culinary prowess, mainly because I have none. None. As in zippa. But this big pot of beans turned out really remarkably tasty. And I will happily eat it three (at least) times a day for the whole weekend. All the seasoning you need for this is already in the Chorizo.

16oz. bag of dry Goya Navy Beans
14.5oz. can of Hunt's Fire Roasted Tomatoes Diced with Garlic
2 Tbs. bacon fat*
medium onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced in a press
2 Chorizo sausages from Wagshal's
6 to 7 cups of chicken stock (use stock, not "broth")
1 cup of organic baby carrots (could be more)
sour cream

1. Melt the bacon fat in a skillet and sauté the onion and garlic. Remove and put into the slow cooker pot.
2. Take the casing off the Chorizo sausages and sauté them, breaking them up as you go into small nodules. (Might need more bacon fat here. Don't be shy.)
3. Remove the sausage and put it in the pot. (Include all the skillet scrapings. Loosen them with a wisk and some stock if necessary.)
4. Rinse the dry Navy beans for a moment in a collander and then put them in the pot.
5. Add the diced tomato, the carrots, and the stock. Stir.

6. Cook forever. (I cooked mine for about 9 hours on "Low".) Serve with a generous glob of sour cream on top (also nice with grated sharp cheddar on top instead of the sour cream), with side salad, toasted multi-grain bread and butter, and a muga beer.

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*bacon fat: If you don't routinely save (snug in the refrig) the drippings from cooking bacon, are you nuts?, don't despair. For this recipe, sauté (yeah = fry) some bacon slices in the skillet, enough to get about 2 Tbs of liquid, maybe four slices. Or so. Remove the bacon slices to drain, keeping all the drippings and scrapings in the skillet. Then go on to sauté the onions, etc. Don't waste the cooked bacon. Chop it up and add it to the cook pot.

[20Dec09] ADDENDUM: You can also use andouille sausage. Since it's smoked, you can't get it out of the casing. So you have to dice it up small well before you saute it. (N.B.: "Andouille is an in French, designating a ridiculous or incompetent person, or a rascal; this may be linked to the old British slang “silly sausage”, which describes a person as stupid, foolish or naive."