Authentic Cajun Rice Dressing (aka dirty rice)

I was asked earlier this month if I would share our family recipe for Cajun Rice Dressing. Some people refer to it as dirty rice etc but you know what it is. I did have to give this some deep thought and reflection as I have never shared this family recipe with anyone even though everyone who has ever eaten it has asked for it. Just to give a little background, our family is Cajun through and through. Our ancestors came to Louisiana from France in the late 1600's and early 1700's. My cousin still lives on the very plot of land that the first Gagnard settled on when he came from France in the 1700's.

This recipe is the same one that my great grandmother cooked for us at holiday season and during the year. She was born in 1877 so this probably was passed down to her by her mother etc. I have modified the recipe for my tastes but I will share both recipes with the group. I had to modify mine due to a distinct hatred of liver due to having to eat it so much when I was young due to an illness.

When I was a small child we used to go next door to grandma's house. Her mother, my great grandmother, lived with her because her husband had died about a week after my birth. My great grandmother would get out an old hand crank grinder (which I actually have and still use when I want some nostalgia) attach it to the kitchen counter top or kitchen table, get out a pan and all the ingredients and us kids would take turns grinding up the ingredients. We all thought it was fun but you would get worn out too.

Ingredients for Original recipe:
1 cup of yellow onion
2/3 cup of celery
1/2 cup bell pepper
1/4 cup of green onion copped fine
4-6 chicken livers
4-6 chicken hearts
4-6 chicken gizzards
4 cups rice cooked (4 cups of uncooked rice, then cook it, not 4 cups of cooked rice)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Grind up the yellow onion, celery and bell pepper, set aside
Grind up the livers and hearts. Take the tough part of the gizzard off and take off the silver lining too, then grind them up.

Put the yellow onion, celery and bell pepper in a large pot (we always used a good sized magnalite pot but you can use anything that's 6 quarts or so in size) and cook them down until the onions are clear, take out the pot and set aside. Take the livers, hearts and gizzards and brown them well in the pot. After you've browned them add back the cooked veggies and also about 1/2 cup of water, get all the stuck on stuff off the bottom of the pot as this is also flavoring....add the cooked rice and green onion and stir until it is all mixed up well. Salt and Pepper to taste (usually takes a good bit but don't over do it, as it sits it gets more flavorful). Once everything is mixed well put a tight lid back on the pot and just set aside for about an hour before you eat. I put it on a burner on the lowest level or if I have a burner that the oven vents to I just put it over that while something is cooking in the oven. As it sits the flavors will become more spread out and more intense.


Now here is my modified alternative recipe that I use because I like mine a little different.

1 1/2 cups yellow onion
1 cup celery
1 cup bell pepper
2/3 cup green onion
4 cups rice cooked (4 cups of uncooked rice, then cook it, not 4 cups of cooked rice)
1 turkey liver
1 turkey gizzard
1 turkey heart
2/3 pound of ground beef
2/3 pound of ground pork
Tonys seasoning, salt and black pepper to taste.

I chop up the yellow onion, bell pepper and celery fairly fine in a hand crank veggie chopper that I have. Cut up the green onion fairly small as well but keep it to the side of the rest of the veggies.

I have a small electric chopper that I use to chop up the liver heart and gizzard and I chop the heck out of it so it's almost a paste.

Cook the yellow onion, celery, half of the green onion and bell pepper until the onion gets clear then set aside. Cook the meats all together until really browned well. Add the cooked veggies back and about 2/3 cup of water...stir it to remove all the browned stuff off the bottom of the pot, that's going to help flavor the rice. If you need more water then add some more but just a little at a time. Once all the brown is off the bottom of the pot you shoudl have veggies, meat and a little gravy from all of them in the pot, then add the cooked rice and rest of the green onions and stir to mix well, season to taste and set aside like the other recipe calls for.

My version has more veggies and is milder tasting and has more meat. That's just the way I prefer it, however the first version is the real authentic version that's more than likely well over 100 years old.

Enjoy. !!!!