dirty rice

Any number of fried rice recipes popular in Louisiana among cajuns and creoles. Many recipes call for chicken gizzards and livers which give the rice a muddy color, I personally detest chicken livers and gizzards, so the recipe I use (freely adapted from my grandmother's) doesn't call for any.

Ingredients

Six cups of pre-cooked long grain white rice, chilled overnight
One pound of chaurice
1/2 Pound of andouille, slice on the bias One large spanish onion, diced
Several cloves of crushed garlic (I like lots)
one cup of celery, chopped
Creole Seasoning (I like Zatarain's, but Tony Chachere's is an acceptible substitute. You can also make your own)
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 stick of butter
Several dashes of Crystal Hot Sauce or Tabasco (to taste)

Instructions

It is important that the rice be prepared beforehand, and chilled, otherwise the resulting dish will be gummy and the improper texture. Using chicken stock to cook the rice in instead of water adds a pleasant flavor to final product, but it is not a neccessary step.

Take the chaurice patties and crumble them into a cast-iron skillet on medium heat. Cook until browned, drain and set aside. Brown the sliced andouille, drain and set aside.

In a large pot, saute the garlic, parsley, onion and celery in about a tablespoon of butter. When onions are carmelized, add the rest of the butter. Reduce flame to low. Begin gradually spooning rice into pot, making sure to stir constantly. Add creole seasoning while stirring. Raise heat to medium, and stir rice mixture constantly. Add chaurice and andouille, add several splashes of hot sauce. When the rice is of a uniform light brown color, and all the ingredients are mixed in thoroughly it is ready.

Serves: 3-5 people as a main course, up to 8 as a side dish.

Another take on Cajun Dirty Rice, for those who do like livers and gizzards:

First the ingredients required:

• 1 lb chicken gizzards
• 1/2 lb chicken livers
• 4 cups pre-cooked and cooled rice
• 1 large green bell pepper (finely chopped)
• 2 large stalks of cellery (finely chopped)
• 2 medium onions (finely chopped)
• 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 3 cups brown chicken stock
• 1 cup sausage or bacon grease. In a pinch lard will do.
• 3/4 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Okay, now a little bit on making this dish:

• First, be sure to chop all the vegetables before you start because you may not have time later.
• Next, the gizzards need to be cleaned. To do this you have to scrape the meat away from the tough outter wall. Keep the meat, discard the skins.
• Mince, grind, or puree the livers or gizzards thouroughly. The idea is they should not be in chunks that will alter the texture of the dish too much.
• Put the grease in a dutch oven and start it heating up. When the fat is heated, add the livers and gizzards. Fry the meat stirring constantly until browned (usually about 10 minutes).
• Add the onions, garlic, cellery, and green peppers now. Fry them until the onions are translucent and the other vegetables are at least wilted.
• Now reduce the heat and add the chicken broth and the spices. Leave to simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for abour 45 minutes, or until it starts to thicken.
• Fold in the rice, green onions, and parseley. Cook on low only until heated. Serve hot.

This dish is medium spicy, and certainly not the healthy low cholesterol politically correct way to eat, but it sticks to your ribs and is good energy food, and quite tasty to boot. I personally like to drink Red Stripe with it, but that's just my weird taste. In some ways this is like a cajun version of haggis.