Cookin' through Cookin' Crunk - creole steamed sausages

I spent about half of the weekend making these sausages.  Or so it seemed.

I started them Saturday evening.  I went through the tedious process of mashing beans by hand, threw everything together, mixed it up, and then realised that I didn't have any aluminum foil.  So I put the dough in the fridge.

I went out Sunday to buy foil, then came home and made the sausages.  Well, as I was trying to form the sausages, little (and not so little) bits of bean kept falling out, and they didn't really want to take shape.  I think I'm blaming the beans - I forgot that great northern beans are haricot beans here, not cannellini, so I got the wrong ones, and they were a bit tough.  But I finally got them into the foil, wrapped and steaming.

They turned out alright.  But here's the thing - they contain my herbal arch nemesis, thyme.  And because of the bean thing and the thyme, they kinda annoy me, texturally.  But they taste good!

They're seen here over rice in a sauce of garlic, shallots, red peppers, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, and paprika (I think).  This was a spur-of-the-moment, throw in what works type of sauce.  The tomato sauce was left over, the red pepper needed to be used, and I used the dregs of the frozen shallots and garlic.  And it turned out really good, so, hey.

So far, this has been probably my least favourite recipe because of the texture issues.  So I'll make these again with the right beans and maybe try to find a way around the thyme and report back, since I don't want to dismiss them because of what might have been my fault.