FEIJAO - Brazilian black beans and rice

This is Feijao (Fay-jown). My sister-in-law, Althea (Hubby's younger sister) and her family are missionaries to Brazil. They have been there for 12 years now. When they were home on their last furlough, they stayed with us. We have lots of extra room and enjoyed the fellowship with them during their time home in the states. Althea loves to cook too, and would often cook up a big ol' batch of Feijao for us all. We loved it so much that I learned how to make it. So every time we get the hankering for some Brazilian food and get to missing Althea, we cook this up and think of her!

In America, we eat meat and potatoes. In Brazil they eat Feijao. It's a staple on their dinner table. The slaves in the colonial Brazil created the "Feijao" (Fay-jown). They started cooking the pork meats that Farmland owners discarded such as ear, tails, feet in a big pot with black beans. This dish became traditional all over the country. Since then, the dish was incremented with pork sirloin and sausages that transformed the menu in a famous entrée that everybody who visits Brazil have to taste. This is an easy-to-do version of Feijao made only with bacon and sausages. This recipe is for busy people that don't want to handle the salted pork ears, tails and feet found in the complete Feijoada.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb of varied pork sausages (prefer smoked sausages)
1 lb bacon, chopped in bite size pieces (I used scissors to cut it up)
2 cans of black beans (15.5Oz)
1 can refried black beans (15 oz)
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
2 or 3 bay leaves (bay leaves give a special taste to feijao)

PREPARE:

In a dutch oven, fry chopped bacon with salt, onion and garlic.
Add all the sausages and stir over medium-heat until heated through.
Feijao is made with black beans and pork meats. You can use a can of beans already cooked or google how to cook dried beans. Add black beans & refried black beans to the meat in the dutch oven, and add in the bay leaves.
Cook for about 15 minutes on med heat until hot and bubbly, stirring often to keep from sticking.
Simmer on low until ready to serve. If it gets to thick, just thin it a bit with hot water.

Hint: If you do not have a can of refried black beans, to make the feijao creamy, you can liquefy 1/2 cup of black beans in the blender and add to the feijao.

SERVING SIZE: 6 portions.