Fat Tuesday and Dirty Rice

Today is Fat Tuesday and all over New Orleans (and myriad other cities around the world) people are nursing hangovers with hair of the dog. I always think it's rather anti-climactic that the actual day of Mardi Gras is such a low-key event. Quite honestly, for me Mardi Gras day is less about hurricanes and hand grenades and more about a totally indulgent pancake supper. Giant stacks of pancakes with butter and syrup, or even chocolate chips, bacon and sausage, the breakfast-for-dinner works. I'd actually been planning on pancakes for dinner tonight, but as fate would have it, I have some chicken breasts in my fridge that must be used (dinner plans last night went awry), so this year we're forgoing the usual Shrove Tuesday pancake supper. I did give some thought to chicken and waffles, but I eventually decided to go back to my roots in honor of Mardi Gras this year:  we're having blackened chicken and dirty rice.

I know, it's not like it's gumbo or jambalaya, but when I was young and forced to eat Cajun food on a regular basis (read:  before I learned to enjoy such things), blackened chicken and dirty rice was my very favorite meal. My dad always used Paul Prudhomme's recipe for dirty rice from his Louisiana Kitchen cookbook, and, seriously, it's so freaking spicy hot. I think this is due to the copious amounts of pepper (my dad always used white pepper) in the rice. But it's warm and spicy and flavorful and I love it. I made this dirty rice with brown rice, and I scaled back the spices, but other than that and the decided lack of chicken livers (they're what traditionally makes the rice "dirty"), I think it tastes pretty darn authentic. 

No matter the blend of spices, dirty rice, like most other Cajun specialties, starts with the "trinity" -- bell pepper (usually green but I always go red), onion, and celery. There's usually sausage (andouille is common) and then the chicken livers. So, I know I've eaten dirty rice with chicken livers countless number of times in restaurants, and I'm certain that, though he'd never admit it, my dad has snuck chicken or duck livers into the dirty rice and I've eaten it with gusto, but I never add chicken livers to my dirty rice. And, you know what? It's still dirty and it tastes fantastic. I don't think my recipe is ever the same because it's based on what I have handy so I won't write it down here, but I'll give you a few links to get you started on dirty rice. And beware, it's supposed to have a kick!

Closest to Dr. M's Dirty Rice

Emeril's Dirty Rice (not as much spice or kick)

Dirty Brown Rice (a little healthier)

Happy Mardi Gras to all of you! We'll be enjoying this with some Abita, appropriately enough, and I'm definitely going to have some chocolate for dessert. After all, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and that's the point, right? To get it all out of your system before Lent begins. I still have to figure out what Lent is going to entail for me this year. I always give up chocolate, but I'm giving some serious thought to switching it up this year. Do you make a Lenten sacrifice? Or take something on. I'll have to decide what I'm going to do soon because time is definitely running out.