Pableaux’s Monday Night Red Beans

All our Pableaux Johnson recipe cards are a little different. Ingredients vary, some recipe steps are in a different order, and some include steps the others don’t. Watching him prepare red beans at our restaurants as part of his Red Beans Road Show, we noticed there were a few things he did that did not align with the formally typed up methods. We don’t believe he was constantly evolving or earnestly editing the recipe. With Pableaux, it was just that the minutiae didn’t matter so much. Making the pot of red beans was a muscle memory. It was a reason to have feet under his table on the weekly. It was the conduit for laughter, for new friendships to form and old ones to strengthen. It was consistently delicious, and we had it many, many times. It is impossible to put into words how much we will miss Pableaux. So to keep his memory alive we have started making red beans on most Mondays at our home in Athens, inviting friends and friends of friends to our table to share in this meal.

1 pound Camellia red beans, soaked
1 pounds good smoked sausage, preferably andouille, sliced into coins
3 tablespoons oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced
Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon dried basil
Pinch rubbed sage
3 bay leaves
Crystal Hot Sauce
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 bunch fl at-leaf parsley, minced
Cooked rice for serving

Heat oil in a large heavy pot. Brown the sausage, stirring frequently, to render as much fat as possible. When well browned, remove sausage from the pot and drain on paper towels. Add onions and season with lots of Tony’s, salt and pepper.

Cook onions over medium heat, stirring frequently, until well browned. Add garlic and cook 5 to 10 minutes; add celery and bell pepper and cook until translucent.

Drain water off the soaked red beans and add the beans to the pot. Cover with fresh water. Rub the basil between the palms of your hands as you add it to the pot. Add sage and bay leaves. Add sausage back to the pot and stir well.

Bring mixture to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. When beans are tender, mash some with a potato masher until the mixture looks creamy.

Stir in the chopped green onions and almost all of the parsley, reserving some parsley for diners to add at the table. Season well with Crystal Hot Sauce.

Serve hot with cooked white rice, the extra parsley and more hot sauce.

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Featured in Issue No. 10 | Published online March 16, 2025