1 cup Kamut
1 cup dried red beans
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1¼ pounds smoked sausage (preferably a beef or pork sausage like smoked kielbasa, Spanish chorizo, or even a spicy smoked Cajun sausage), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large yellow onion (12 ounces), chopped
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
4 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium, chicken broth
1. Soak the Kamut and beans in 2 separate bowls of cool water for at least 8 and up to 16 hours. If possible, change the water in the beans at least once during soaking.
2. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Swirl in the oil. Working in 2 batches, brown the sausage all sides, maybe 4 or 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a plate and add the remaining sausage. Why not just dump in all the sausage? Because it can release too much liquid all at once, liquid that won’t then boil off quickly enough, thus causing the sausage to braise rather than brown. By working in batches, you’re giving the smaller amount of released liquid time to boil off before adding more to the pot.
3. Here’s a choice: Drain off all the fat in the pot except about 2 tablespoons, or leave it in the pot and work out on the treadmill an extra 20 minutes. Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery. Stir over the heat until the onion softens somewhat, about 4 minutes.
4. Stir in the garlic, then all the herbs and spices: the thyme, sage, allspice, cayenne, and bay leaves. Keep stirring for maybe 30 seconds, then pour in the vinegar and Worcestershire. They’ll almost instantly boil—but keep stirring for 30 seconds, about as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. Pour in the broth and bring it to a full simmer, scraping up any browned bits in the pot.
5. Return the sausage pieces and any accumulated juices on their plate to the pot. Drain the Kamut in a small-holed colander set in the sink and stir it into the pot. Bring it all back to a full simmer; then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer slowly for 30 minutes.
6. Drain the beans and add them to the pot. Cover and continue simmering slowly, stirring every once in a while, until the Kamut and beans are tender, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
7. Uncover the pot and raise the heat to medium-high, bringing the stew to a full boil. Reduce what’s in the pot until it’s the consistency you like. It should be like a thick stew, definitely not a soup. We prefer a wetter texture, one that requires a bowl rather than a plate. However, you can dry it out to become plate-food—if so, you’ve got to stir all the time to keep everything from sticking. Check for salt and discard the bay leaves before serving.
SERVES 4
Active time: 25 minutes
Total time: 2 hours 30 minutes, plus soaking the beans and Kamut for at least 8 hours
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