Recipe: Dirty Rice (Chef Paul Prudhomme) and Rice and Corn Dressing

Angela - Dirty Rice is Southern in that it comes from Lousisiana but I don't believe that it would be classified as a true Southern dish. It's a Cajun dish. I saw Judy's recipe and it's not at all like the diry rice that we fix on the Gulf Coast. Generally dirty rice has chicken giblets and a lot of it has the liver in it. I personally don't like liver and no one in my family does, so I never put liver into it.
Here's one recipe for you:

DIRTY RICE

2 tablespoons chicken fat
1/2 pound chicken gizzards
1/4 pound ground pork
1 bay leaves
1 yellow onions
1 1/2 celery stalks
1/2 green bell peppers
1 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups pork stock or water
1/2 pound chicken livers
1 cup rice

Mince onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic; set aside. Grind livers and gizzards.

Place fat, gizzards, pork and bay leaves in large heavy skillet over high heat; cook until meat is thoroughly browned, about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, Tabasco, salt, pepper, paprika, mustard, cumin, thyme, and oregano; stir thoroughly, scraping pan bottom well. Add the butter and stir until melted. Reduce heat to medium and cook about 8 minutes, stirring constantly and scraping pan bottom well.

Add the stock or 2 cups water and stir until any mixture sticking to the pan bottom comes loose; cook about 8 minutes over high heat, stirring once. Then stir in the chicken livers and cook about 2 minutes.

Add the rice and stir thoroughly; cover pan and turn heat to very low; cook about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave covered until rice is tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove bay leaves and serve immediately.

Source: Chef Paul Prudhomme, Louisiana Kitchen.

---

And here is how I fix it for my family. As you can see, I add canned corn to it and use that for the dressing for our turkey and for ducks and geese. Without the corn, it's just dirty rice. :)

RICE AND CORN DRESSING
Recipe By : Judi

To make this dirty rice, leave out the corn and don't stuff it in a bird. :)

2 1/2 cups uncooked rice
1 large bell pepper -- chopped
1/2 stalk celery -- finely sliced
2 med-large onions -- chopped
to taste salt, pepper and cayenne pepper
1 (16 ounce) can niblets corn
1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
2 pounds cooked chicken and turkey giblets -- reserve broth

Cover giblets with enough water to cover 1". Add salt and pepper (and if you wish some celery and onion). Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the giblets are tender. Set aside to cool. Then chop finely or grind. Save the broth!

Cook rice, according to package directions. Let cool.

In a very large, deep skillet saute celery, onion, and bell papper until the celery is limp and can be mashed easily between the thumb and forfinger. Stir in the chopped giblets, drain the can of corn and stir in.

Salt and Pepper to taste. (At this point the family differs on what to put in. I like to use a little sage, poultry seasoning and garlic, others use nothing but salt and red pepper.) Simmer 5 minutes. Add the worchestershire sauce and simmer another 10 minutes.

Combine the vegetable-giblet mixture with the cooked rice. Add giblet broth, if needed for moisture. Put in turkey and cook turkey according to directions for a stuffed turkey. Add the rest of the dressing around the bird during the browning stage.

NOTE! If using for wild ducks and or geese, do not stuff the bird before cooking. Stuff in the last 30 minutes of roasting or place around the birds for the last 30 minutes.//The dressing should be moist enough not to need to be cooked in the birds at all. I generally just make it as a side dish.

For left overs, or if you made the dressing ahead, you want to keep the broth from the giblets. The rice will continue to absorb juices and use the broth to moisten. It should not be soupy like rice and gravy just moist and delicious.