My “Dirty” Little Secret

My cooking is often influenced by memory; these memories being the food that my father cooked when I was a child. He used to tell me stories of how he would remember his mother taking various pieces offal and creating wonderfully simple, but delicious dishes. He often recreated these dishes at home, often to the displeasure of my sisters. One of these dishes was rice and chicken livers. I fell in love with this dish, I love the flavor that chicken livers bring to a dish, and it is delicious in a bed of rice. I never knew it until years later, but this dish was the Cajun classic, dirty rice!

Don’t be afraid, “dirty” rice really is not dirty or unclean as the name suggests. Dirty rice is a traditional Cajun dish made from rice cooked with small pieces of chicken liver and/or giblets and like most recipes, there are countless ways to prepare dirty rice, including a few recipes that don’t even call for chicken livers and gizzards, but use sausage or ground beef. Personally, this dish just is not the same without the chicken livers and giblets. I really savor the flavors of the chicken livers and the snap of the giblets, they both add contrasting textures to the rice. I too have made this a couple different ways, I have a version which uses saffron and red beans that is just as delicious. This recipe is a simple, yet an authentically full-flavored version.

I would suggest serving with Halibut Braised in Chipotle or  Pan Seared Bay Scallops ,it is even hearty enough to stand on its own legs. Just be sure to serve it with and a quality Pinot Noir!

This post is the first of a series of rice dishes that will be coming this month as I “train” for the upcoming Marx Foods Integrale Gaunlet. So please come back and find out how I plan to take my second consecutive recipe challenge from Marx Foods!

Dirty Rice

• ½ lb. Chicken Livers
• ½ lb. Chicken Giblets (hearts and gizzards)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 large jalepeno, diced
• ½ white onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups White Rice ( I used Jasmine)
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. Fresh Oregano
• 1 tsp. Dried Thyme
• ½ tsp. White Pepper
• Salt to taste

1. In colander, rinse rice several times until water runs clear.
2. Take the chicken livers and soak in milk for about 10 minutes.
3. Take the giblets rinse well, and pat dry. Place in a food processor and pulse a few times to get a nice dice.
4. Rinse the livers and chop well.
5. Take a large sauté pan and heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.
6. Add the giblets, season with salt and white pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes.
7. Add the livers and the dried thyme, continue to sauté for another 5 minutes
8. Remove the livers and giblets from the heat and place in a dish and set aside.
9. Put another tablespoon of olive oil in the sauté pan and put back on the heat.
10. When the oil shimmers, add the onions, garlic and sauté until the onion just turns translucent.
11. Add the red pepper and the jalepeno pepper, continue to sauté for another 2 minutes.
12. Add the rice and continue to sauté for about another 2 minutes, constantly stirring.
13. Add salt to taste and the fresh oregano.
14. Take the livers and giblets and add to the rice, mix well.
15. Add the warm broth and cover.
16. Reduce the heat to low
17. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed.
18. Serve, garnished with diced scallions.
    

    Dirty Rice

Tags: Cajun, Chicken Giblets, Chicken Livers, Food, Offal, recipes, Rice, sides