Dirty Rice
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This is a hearty rice dish that can be served as a side or a main entree. The flavors are rich and deep and delicious. Traditionally, the dark color came from ground chicken livers but since this would not be top of the list for most people the color is now achieved by deeply browning the ground meat and the addition of some Kitchen Bouquet.
Ingredients
- 1# Italian or Andouille ground sausage or ground beef
- 1 cup or so finely chopped chicken livers – this is optional, but very traditional
- 1 stick of butter or ½ cup bacon grease, or 50/50
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 1 small to medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 bunch green onions, diced, whites and greens separated
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 2-4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp of Creole seasoning
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbsp Kitchen Bouquet
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- A few shakes of hot sauce
- 2 cups of white rice
- 4 cups of chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley (or 1 Tbsp dried)
Instructions
- Brown the sausage in a large pan or Dutch oven over medium heat.
- When partly browned, add the chopped chicken livers (if you dare!) and cook until done. Remove the meat to a plate.
- Add the stick of butter and allow to completely melt.
- Add the rice and allow to brown, stirring regularly.
- Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery and cook until soft.
- Add the garlic and stir through until fragrant.
- Add the thyme, Creole, Worcestershire, Kitchen Bouquet, and hot sauce, mixing well.
- Deglaze the bottom of the pan, if necessary, with beer, wine or stock.
- Add the chicken stock and stir through.
- Add the bay leaves, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaves and add the parsley and stir through.
- Garnish with the onion greens, parsley or chives.
- It will taste the best if you can make this the day before and reheat the next day, adding some water or stock as needed.
- This recipe can easily be doubled for a large group.