Dirty Rice

I love Dirty Rice from Pappadeaux's Restaurant.  I've never eaten it anywhere else and really didn't know much about it other than it appeared to be a really spicy dish with rice and sausage.  My husband mentioned Dirty Rice the other day which put a bug in my brain to add it to our weekly menu!

Seemed like it would be fairly simple.  I felt like I had the basics on hand, having bought a chub of pork sausage in last week's shopping.  Next step would be seeking out a good recipe.  I started with a search for the recipe from Pappadeaux's.  Knew it wouldn't likely be out there, but hopefully something close.  What did I immediately discover?  OMG!  Chicken Livers. Gizzards. WHAT???  Ewwww.

I put it aside for a bit then went back to search for other recipes for Dirty Rice.  Low and behold, everything I found had chicken livers.  I repeat, ewwww.

I am not a liver fan - whether it be cow or chicken.  It's a no go in my kitchen.  My first job was in my family's meat market and handling liver was just the thing the guys thought would be funny for the boss's daughter to have to do.  I repeat ewwww.

I waited until the day of the Dirty Rice entry on my weekly menu to arrive, thinking I'd just try it with the pork sausage and use the Emeril Lagasse recipe I found on Food Network.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the undefined taste I enjoyed so much in the restaurant just might be chicken livers.  So, I put on my big girl panties and hied myself to the grocery store to find a plastic container of chicken livers.  Hey, chicken livers are pretty darn cheap!  My friend says they use them to fish with.  Gracious, I'd rather handle a worm!

I didn't take photos of the process because, truly, I didn't expect to find it was something I was going to recommend.  I grabbed photos at the end after I made Mr. Flip Flop give it a taste.  He said it was good but spicy!  Anyway, onwards.

I got home and pulled up the recipes I'd marked and made the final decision to do the Emeril thang.  I had some Essence on hand, brown rice instead of white because that's how we roll, and I grabbed a green bell pepper at the store because we usually eat red bell pepper.  I'm not really a bell pepper fan but my husband is, so the way we compromise is to buy the milder red version.  It works okay - especially if I cut the pieces large enough to pick out or make them so small I can't identify them.  I don't mind it as a background taste, just don't like biting into one.

Here'e the link to the Emeril Lagasse original recipe and then the way I made it outlined below.

Dirty Rice
based on Emeril Lagasse Recipe

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil - divided
1 1/4 pound chicken livers, washed, drained and patted dry
1/2 pound original pork sausage (Owen's brand is good)
1/2 large yellow sweet onion - cut into large chunks
1/3 green bell pepper, seeds and white membrane removed - chunked
2 stalks celery, large chop (use tops too)
2 tsp. minced garlic (I used 4 cloves through a garlic press)
1 Tbsp Emeril's Essence (available on most spice aisles at the grocery store)
 but if not found, there is a recipe for the mix at the link to his recipe above.
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1 can (14.5 oz) Swanson's chicken broth
2 bay leaves
4 cups brown rice - used 2 bags frozen rice in steamable bags (had 2 cups each)
1 cup long grain white rice - used 1/2 bag of the frozen stuff leftover from previous meal
1/4 cup finely chopped Italian Parsley

Method:

Heat a large skillet or deep Dutch Oven with 2 Tbsp of the vegetable oil over a medium high heat.

In a food processor, pulse chicken livers until small chunks (just takes 3 or 4 pulses).  There's a method to my madness - I didn't have to touch the livers in a manual chopping process.  It worked!

Add the sausage first to the hot oil, crumbling into small pieces and then add the chopped liver pieces to the pan.  Saute until brown for 6 to 8 minutes.

Rinse the liver juice from the processor bowl (you probably don't need to but I just had to).
Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic to processor bowl and pulse a few times to obtain a fine chop, but not a puree.

Add the last tablespoon of vegetable oil to the meat mixture and add the vegetable mix, scraping down the food processor bowl to get it all.  Stir in Essence, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes until everything is well incorporated and softened.

Add the chicken broth and bay leaves, stir mixture, scraping any bits from bottom of pan.  Bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 5 minutes.

If you are using frozen rice - pop it into the microwave for about 60 seconds.  Should be cold, but not frozen.  I put all the bags in at once.

After the broth has simmered for 5 minutes, add all of the rice and stir together thoroughly.  The rice should absorb any excess liquid.  Continue simmering for about 5 or 7 minutes until liquid is absorbed.

Remove from heat, remove the bay leaves, add the chopped parsley and serve.

In the pan right before the addition of parsley

We had skillet cornbread with our meal and it helped to offset the spicy heat that was burning my tongue a bit.  The brown rice made everything a slightly different texture and my recipe didn't dry out as much as I have had at the restaurant.  To me, that was a good thing.

We really liked it and I'm sort of over the ewww-ishness regarding chicken livers.  My hubs loves liver, but I don't think it will ever be a staple on my weekly menus!  Dirty Rice, though, I can handle!

Quite delicious and you really can't see pieces of liver.
If I wasn't so opposed to white rice, it would have
likely looked more like you are used to seeing it!
We're a brown rice family though!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

Sausage, Beans, and Rice

Entering Colorado from New Mexico on our way to an evening
concert in La Veta, CO

Well, once again, I disappeared for a month.  One of the reasons was a nice vacation in New Mexico and Colorado (just one day there).  I took the occasional (or hundred) photos but only a few involved food photos.

We had eclectic dining during our trip!

We ate our first meal in Albuquerque at a great little restaurant in the historical part of Albuquerque.  It was cool and dry and the food was delicious.  If you ever are in that area, stop in at the Church Street Cafe...try to sit on the back patio...it's awesome and peaceful and....I just sighed in delight!

Stacked enchiladas on the left with a fried egg on top
and a combo plate on the right with tamale, enchilada, and chili rellenos with green and red sauce.

Our second meal was at a tiny brewery in Taos...incredible grilled chicken tacos with homemade taco shells and hibiscus tea.  Live music and hummingbirds darting about.  It was heaven.  Dark and no photos.  It was relaxing time.

The majority of our meals were eaten around campfires, around outdoor grills, and a couple of times, breakfast in Red River was at a cool little spot down from our motel...Shotgun Willies.  Nothin' fancy but it will fill you right up!  Other than a lunch in Angel Fire, a lunch enroute to Colorado at some intersection somewhere, and another lunch in Trinidad - it was all outside dining!

We vacationed with friends and they had their camper.  They invited us to join them 3 out of our 5 nights there and, really, is there anything that doesn't taste good outdoors?  Especially with old friends and a stream running next to you...or a river running hundreds of feet below you!?!

Red River, NM - by the campground

Wayyyyy down in the bottom of the canyon - The Rio Grande.
(we get our drinking water from the Rio Grande at the south end of it all)

This brings me to the pot of beans, sausage, and rice I am cooking while sitting in air conditioned comfort - in respite from the steamy outdoor temps of the lower Texas Gulf Coast!  It may be October but it was 80 degrees when I woke up this morning and I heard we were supposed to have a cool front blow in tonight...so I decided to make a bean soup (well, not really a soup at the end of it all).  Even if the temperature drops a mere 10 degrees, everyone here grabs a sweater and puts on a pot of something hot.  You have to go for the gusto whenever you can.  It will be a cool 87 degrees tomorrow afternoon.  Really, that's a cool front down here!

Our friend, Pat, cooked two big pots of the most delicious 15 bean soup with ham and onion and other secret seasonings...all over a wood fire...on the rim of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.  That is one remote place!  Quiet, peaceful, and no cell phone service.  YES!

Pot of Beans on the canyon rim
Photo by John Hook

At dusk, the guitar came out, bottles of beer and tequila (and water for me to ensure I did not get altitude sickness) resulted in our singin' 'til our throats were sore.  Awesome memories.

Campfire at sunset - remote and beautiful

Me and Mr. Flip Flop - rarely photographed - our annual selfie!

Awesome friends Pat and Mike

So, in honor of that memory, dinner tonight has been soaking or cooking since 9:00 this morning.  Here's what I did....no wood fire nor cast iron pot included.


SAUSAGE, BEANS, AND RICE

Ingredients:

Hurst's HamBeens 15 Bean Soup (in the dried beans section of the store)
1 pound ring sausage, sliced (used smoked beef sausage)
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small can Red Gold tomatoes and chilies - mild (or Rotel)
1 heaping teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 or 2 bags Steamable Brown Rice (each bag serves four - in the freezer section)

Meal in a Pot!

Method:

In a stock pot, soak beans per package instructions.  Discard soaking water and add 3 quarts water to bean pot.  Add sausage pieces.  Bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook uncovered for 2 1/2 hours.  Add the onion, garlic, tomatoes, chili powder, salt and pepper, and bring up to boil again and allow to low boil for about 30 to 45 additional minutes.  Microwave the rice 50% of the recommended time, and add to mixture.  Stir and allow to come up to boil again.  Lower heat and stir frequently as rice thickens up the soup to the consistency you like.  We like it thick so we used two bags of rice.

Serve with cornbread or tostado chips or warm tortillas.  Muy bueno!!!

15-bean mix, sausage, and rice make for a hearty bowl of goodness!

Spicy Shrimp Teriyaki Stir Fry

Last week-end I was in Austin and stopped into Central Market to pick up SIX bottles of my favorite Teriyaki Marinade/Sauce.  It is sooo delish!  I used to find it down here at the coast from time to time, but not recently.  We love the stuff, so I had to lay in a supply!  They didn't even blink as I checked out.

The last time I used the last bit on hand, Mr. Flip Flop said "you know, this would taste really good with shrimp".... and all I could think was "yes, but it would double the cost of my week-night dinner!"  I started feeling guilty about that, so today I stopped in and got some incredibly fresh smelling large shrimp at Los Tortugas in Port Isabel.  I'll write more about them in an upcoming blog...but I'll say today...a high contender for some of the best wild shrimp in the area!  When I prepped it - it smelled like fresh ocean water.  That is a very good thing!

Here's the way I put this dish together.  It was absolutely delicious.

SPICY SHRIMP TERIYAKI STIR FRY
by Debbi Hook

Ingredients:

1 pound large fresh shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1/3 bottle Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki Sauce, shaken very well
1 Tbsp. Chili Garlic Paste
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Lite Soy Sauce
1 large or 2 small zucchini squash, quartered and sliced
1 small sweet onion, large diced
6 oz. button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/4 large red bell pepper, sliced and large diced
1 package prepared mixed chopped salad (I used HEB Fiesta Salad Mix this time - but have also used broccoli slaw as well as chopped Asian salad blend found at Wal-mart or Sam's Club)
1 Tbsp corn starch mixed with 4 Tbsp water to make a smooth slurry
White or Brown rice - cooked.  I used the HEB frozen steamable brown rice in a bag.  4 minutes.  Done!

Thinly sliced green onion and raw sesame seeds for topping

Method:

Prep all vegetables and set aside.  Clean and de-vein shrimp and keep cold until ready to add to pan.

In the largest pan you have (if you don't have a wok - which I don't), add the olive oil and chili garlic paste.  Bring temperature to medium high then add all prepped vegetables except the bagged mix.

Stir fry until vegetables begin to soften.  Add soy sauce and toss.

Add the chopped salad mixture and stir to coat with sauce. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes.  Add shrimp and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.

Start the rice in the microwave if you are using the steam bag.  Add the Teriyaki sauce to the stir fry and bring to a boil, stirring to coat all ingredients.

Add the completely smooth slurry and stir until returns to boil and sauce thickens.

Add prepared rice and stir to coat.

Plate the dish and sprinkle with green onion and raw sesame seeds.  Serve immediately!

I baked a box of HEB frozen chicken egg rolls and served on the side with some Duck Sauce.
Did I say how delicious this dish was?  Oy vay... Enjoy!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!