Slightly spiced red bean soup with kielbasa and ground pork is pretty spiffy served over rice with garlic bread on the side.
I cheated and used canned red beans, well rinsed and drained, so this soup came together a bit faster than it would if I’d started with dried. Still and all, pretty simple and very tasty on a blustery evening.
I came across the original recipe in a magazine an old boss had given me for Christmas.
She and her husband had been treated to Thanksgiving week in London by his folks, and Erica thought of me when she came across it in a book store. Glancing through it, I came across this recipe, and thought about a bone I’d had in the fridge leftover from Coca Cola Ham, and so the magic 
happened. Over the years, I’ve changed it a bit, added a dab o’ this or that, and I think the soup just gets better.
INGREDIENTS
Soup:
•1 tbsp olive oil
•1 lb ground pork
•1-1/2 cup diced sweet onion
•1-1/2 cup diced celery
•2 cloves garlic, minced
•1 green pepper, diced (1/4 cup dehydrated)
•1/4 tsp black pepper
•1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
•1/2 tsp curry powder
•1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1 tsp thyme
•1 tsp hot sauce
•1/4 cup Sherry Peppers Sauce*
•1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
•1 tbsp sugar
•1 ham bone
•1 kielbasa
•16 oz kidney beans, drained and rinsed
•2 tbsp sherry
•1 tbsp yellow mustard
Rice:
•1 cup Basmati rice, rinsed
•1 -1/2cup water
•1/2 tsp seasoned salt
•1 tbsp butter
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce
•Fresh parsley, chopped
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Note: if you’re starting with dried beans, cover them with cold water and allow to soak overnight before draining and adding to the soup when you add the stock.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat, then add the ground pork and cook, stirring to break it up into little pieces, until only slightly pink.
Add the onion and celery and continue to cook until the pork is cooked through and the onion and celery are tender.
Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so, then add the ham bone, water to cover, and other seasonings.
Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring, for 90 minutes.
Remove the ham bone, cut off and remaining meat and add it back to the pot.
Reduce the heat, add the kielbasa and kidney beans (if using canned), and cook for another 30 minutes.
Rinse the rice well and soak in water for 30 minutes, then drain and rinse again.
Add the rice to a rice cooker with the butter, Sherry Peppers Sauce, and water and push ‘cook.’
Stir the sherry and yellow mustard into the soup and heat through while the rice cooks.
Serve over the rice with parsley.