NOLAchef

Dirty rice, how I love thee…..

The first reaction people have when seeing dirty rice is something like, “is it suppose to look like that…?”  YES, people, yes!

Dirty rice is an old Cajun recipe that was originally thrown together with chicken scraps (giblets & liver), leftover white rice, and the “holy trinity“, the mirepoix of New Orleans.  The color of the giblets aren’t so visually appealing hence the name dirty rice.  Nowadays it’s common to leave out the insides and throw in andouille sausage, ground beef, and/or pork.  My dad’s a fan of using both ground beef & Jimmy Dean pork sausage however here in Buenos Aires such things aren’t available.  Time to improvise!

I had my butcher double grind a kilo of pork shoulder and of course I had to throw in some chorizo colorado, the closest thing to andouille south of the Gulf of Mexico.  Since both meats have a very high fat content I cooked them first to remove most of their natural oils.  You DON’T want a greasy dirty rice.

NOLA Dirty Rice::

• 1 kilo of pork shoulder ground twice, cerdo picado dos veces
• 2 chorizo colorado seco
• 1 big onion, cebolla grande
• 2-3 stalks of celery, tallos de apio
• 1 green bell pepper, morrone verde
• 1 jalepeno, chili picante
• 4 garlic cloves, dientes de ajo
• green onion, verdeo
• 2 cups of white rice, 2 tazas de arroz blanco
• 4 cups of water, 4 tazas de agua
• Tony’s Chacheres or any Cajun spice mix, especias de Cajun
• Louisiana Crystal Hot Sauce, salsa picante
• salt, sal
  

Holy Trinity- celery, onion, and green pepper

All of the ingredients will be cooked together so make sure you have a pot, or olla, big enough to hold everything.

Begin by browning the ground pork.  While that’s cooking, cut up the chorizo colorado into macedoine and toss it in with the ground pork.  Once the pork is lightly brown transfer both into a bowl and remove the oil from the pot leaving a couple spoonfuls.

Add the diced celery, onion, green pepper, jalapeno and check the flame to make sure it’s on a medium low, we don’t want to brown the mirepoix.  Afer 10 minutes or so add the minced garlic and a dash of salt.  Once the garlic becomes aromatic add a couple tablespoons of Tony’s or whichever Cajun seasoning you prefer.  Tony’s is SALTY, so be cautious as to how much salt you add.  You can always get Salt free Tony’s in the white container, it’s the best.

Measure out the rice and add it to the pot, stirring frequently to lightly toast it.  Add both meats, water, and hot sauce.  The water should be covering everything with an additional inch.  If you need to, add more water.  Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer with the lid on.  Cook for 20ish minutes until the rice is cooked.  Let stand for 5 minutes with the lid on and then fluff with a fork.  Add the sliced green onion before serving.

Notes:

• The amount of hot sauce and Cajun seasoning depends on how picante you like your food.  You can always add more, so don’t go crazy at the beginning.

• You want your mirepoix (celery, onion, and pepper) to be cut in small dice so there’s no big chunks in your tiny rice.

• When I was a kid I would eat dirty rice with corn chips and sour cream, yummmmm.