Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty Rice.
Not as a side, just for dinner.

Now, I normally would prepare this as a side using a recipe given to me by a
former co-worker, Mz. Cloutier from Houma, Louisana. But I suspect she just
adapted it from Paul Prudhomme's recipe, which I've prepared in the past
(excellent!). But that serves about 10 people. I'm one people

At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add to this
so I'm just using ground beef. I'll tart up the mixture with chicken stock
rather than water; I'll add some diced green bell pepper, onion and garlic
and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Alas, I have no celery. I'll taste it
and add some hot sauce and maybe even ground sassafrass leaves (file powder)
after the rice cooks. File is a thickener as well as a seasoning. This is
one quick cooking boxed meal which I adore. And as I said, I eat this as a
meal, over a period of a several days or I can freeze the leftovers. For
those of you who don't know, cooked rice freezes very well.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty Rice.
> Not as a side, just for dinner.
>
> Now, I normally would prepare this as a side using a recipe given to me by a
> former co-worker, Mz. Cloutier from Houma, Louisana. But I suspect she just
> adapted it from Paul Prudhomme's recipe, which I've prepared in the past
> (excellent!). But that serves about 10 people. I'm one people
>
> At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add to this
> so I'm just using ground beef. I'll tart up the mixture with chicken stock
> rather than water; I'll add some diced green bell pepper, onion and garlic
> and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Alas, I have no celery. I'll taste it
> and add some hot sauce and maybe even ground sassafrass leaves (file powder)
> after the rice cooks. File is a thickener as well as a seasoning. This is
> one quick cooking boxed meal which I adore. And as I said, I eat this as a
> meal, over a period of a several days or I can freeze the leftovers. For
> those of you who don't know, cooked rice freezes very well.
>
> Jill

When I was single I probably tried every box rice mix on the market at
one time or another. To me, they all taste way too salty. I have
recently been "cheating" by buying the RiceSelect Royal Blend rice
(produced by RiceTec in TX)
http://www.riceselect.com/rylblend.htm
and spicing it up (sauteed garlic, geen onions, carrots, spices). It's
pre-cooked a bit so doesn't take as long, and still has the whole-grain
benefits. They even have a red beans & rice mix, too. Another
thing I do is to cook and freeze my wild and whole-grain rices and then
add them (thawed) during the last few minutes of cooking time, to my
white rice pilafs - saves a lot of time.

-L.

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty
Rice.
> Not as a side, just for dinner.
>
> Now, I normally would prepare this as a side using a recipe given to me by
a
> former co-worker, Mz. Cloutier from Houma, Louisana. But I suspect she
just
> adapted it from Paul Prudhomme's recipe, which I've prepared in the past
> (excellent!). But that serves about 10 people. I'm one people
>
> At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add to
this
> so I'm just using ground beef. I'll tart up the mixture with chicken
stock
> rather than water; I'll add some diced green bell pepper, onion and garlic
> and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Alas, I have no celery. I'll taste it
> and add some hot sauce and maybe even ground sassafrass leaves (file
powder)
> after the rice cooks. File is a thickener as well as a seasoning. This
is
> one quick cooking boxed meal which I adore. And as I said, I eat this as
a
> meal, over a period of a several days or I can freeze the leftovers. For
> those of you who don't know, cooked rice freezes very well.
>
> Jill

I tried the Zatarain's Gumbo. It called for okra --no fresh okra around here
so I tried some canned okra. Turned out to be pretty gross --the canned okra
tasted unpleasant and ruined the rest. They're probably tasty with a little
fixin' up -- a little hog jowls and poke salad on the side :-)
--
Lefty

Life is for learning
The worst I ever had was wonderful
>
>

jmcquown wrote:
> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty
> Rice. Not as a side, just for dinner.
>

> At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add
> to this so I'm just using ground beef. I'll tart up the mixture with
> chicken stock rather than water; I'll add some diced green bell
> pepper, onion and garlic and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Alas, I
> have no celery. I'll taste it and add some hot sauce and maybe even
> ground sassafrass leaves (file powder) after the rice cooks. File is
> a thickener as well as a seasoning. This is one quick cooking boxed
> meal which I adore. And as I said, I eat this as a meal, over a
> period of a several days or I can freeze the leftovers. For those of
> you who don't know, cooked rice freezes very well.
>
> Jill

Needed more garlic. I have yet to add any of the file powder but I added
some more stock because some of the rice tender. I'll add the file when
it's done simmering another 10 minutes. All in all, not bad for a tricked
up boxed rice mix.

Jill

Lefty wrote:
> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's
>> Dirty Rice. Not as a side, just for dinner.
>>
>> Now, I normally would prepare this as a side using a recipe given to
>> me by a former co-worker, Mz. Cloutier from Houma, Louisana. But I
>> suspect she just adapted it from Paul Prudhomme's recipe, which I've
>> prepared in the past (excellent!). But that serves about 10 people.
>> I'm one people
>>
>> At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add
>> to this so I'm just using ground beef. I'll tart up the mixture
>> with chicken stock rather than water; I'll add some diced green bell
>> pepper, onion and garlic and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Alas, I
>> have no celery. I'll taste it and add some hot sauce and maybe even
>> ground sassafrass leaves (file powder) after the rice cooks. File
>> is a thickener as well as a seasoning. This is one quick cooking
>> boxed meal which I adore. And as I said, I eat this as a meal, over
>> a period of a several days or I can freeze the leftovers. For those
>> of you who don't know, cooked rice freezes very well.
>>
>> Jill
>
> I tried the Zatarain's Gumbo. It called for okra --no fresh okra
> around here so I tried some canned okra. Turned out to be pretty
> gross --the canned okra tasted unpleasant and ruined the rest.
> They're probably tasty with a little fixin' up -- a little hog jowls
> and poke salad on the side :-)
>
> Life is for learning
> The worst I ever had was wonderful

Canned okra is nasty, slimy stuff. Frozen, not canned okra, if you must use
it and can't be bothered with fresh. The fresh pods aren't hard to slice
and dice but are sometimes hard to pick out as 'good'. Still, no okra
called for in this.

Jill

Estaban Vuertez wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Apr 2006 20:24:48 -0500, jmcquown wrote:
>
>> jmcquown wrote:
>>> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's
>>> Dirty Rice. Not as a side, just for dinner.
>>>
>>
>>> At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add
>>> to this so I'm just using ground beef. I'll tart up the mixture
>>> with chicken stock rather than water; I'll add some diced green bell
>>> pepper, onion and garlic and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Alas, I
>>> have no celery. I'll taste it and add some hot sauce and maybe even
>>> ground sassafrass leaves (file powder) after the rice cooks. File
>>> is
>>> a thickener as well as a seasoning. This is one quick cooking boxed
>>> meal which I adore. And as I said, I eat this as a meal, over a
>>> period of a several days or I can freeze the leftovers. For those
>>> of you who don't know, cooked rice freezes very well.
>>>
>>> Jill
>>
>> Needed more garlic. I have yet to add any of the file powder but I
>> added some more stock because some of the rice tender. I'll add the
>> file when it's done simmering another 10 minutes. All in all, not
>> bad for a tricked up boxed rice mix.
>
> Let us know next time you lift the lid. And everytime after
> that. I can't stand the suspense waiting to hear how this
> finally turns out.
>
> -sw

I only lifted the lid after 25 minutes of simmering, thank you very much. I
know how to cook rice (without a rice cooker). And I get tired, *really
tired* of killfiling you *sqwertz*, in all your various incarnations.
Haven't seen this one before, so there you go.

Jill

I really like the Zatarains products; they're pretty good for dinner
from a box. The yellow rice is very good, although I like to dice some
onion and pepper in it. The Red Beans and rice is good also, if you
doctor it up with some diced onion and pepper; I also like to use a
combination of smoked sausage and shrimp with it. My favorite product
of theirs is probably the Alfredo mix.

On 2006-04-14, jmcquown > wrote:
> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty Rice.
> Not as a side, just for dinner.

Aren't Zatarain's rice dishes made with pre-cooked freeze dried rice,
like Uncle Ben's?

nb

notbob wrote:
> On 2006-04-14, jmcquown > wrote:
>> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's
>> Dirty Rice. Not as a side, just for dinner.
>
> Aren't Zatarain's rice dishes made with pre-cooked freeze dried rice,
> like Uncle Ben's?
>
> nb

You still have to simmer it 25 minutes so I don't think they use par-boiled
rice.

Jill

Michael O'Connor wrote:
> I really like the Zatarains products; they're pretty good for dinner
> from a box. The yellow rice is very good, although I like to dice
> some onion and pepper in it. The Red Beans and rice is good also, if
> you doctor it up with some diced onion and pepper; I also like to use
> a combination of smoked sausage and shrimp with it. My favorite
> product of theirs is probably the Alfredo mix.

I've never tried their Alfredo mix. I was a bit disturbed when I looked for
the Red Beans & Rice mix to only find pasta mixes rather than rice mixes at
my local grocery store. I don't associate New Orleans/Cajun/Creole with
pasta. Couldn't find any rice and bean mixes at all.

I wound up adding 1 cup cooked seasoned pinto beans to this mixture when I
added the file powder. It was tasty

Jill

notbob wrote:
> On 2006-04-14, jmcquown > wrote:
>> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's
>> Dirty Rice. Not as a side, just for dinner.
>
> Aren't Zatarain's rice dishes made with pre-cooked freeze dried rice,
> like Uncle Ben's?
>
> nb

Took 25+ minutes to cook so I don't think it's "converted" or parboiled
rice.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty Rice.
> Not as a side, just for dinner.
.. . .
> At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add to this
> so I'm just using ground beef. . . .
> File is a thickener as well as a seasoning. . . .

> Jill

No gizzards or livers, try breakfast sausage, browned and drained. Or
any sausage diced.
And let me know how the file faired in your leftovers. It supposed to
do bad things in reheatings.

wrote:
> jmcquown wrote:
>> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's
>> Dirty Rice. Not as a side, just for dinner.
> . . .
>> At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add
>> to this so I'm just using ground beef. . . .
>> File is a thickener as well as a seasoning. . . .
>
>> Jill
>
> No gizzards or livers, try breakfast sausage, browned and drained. Or
> any sausage diced.
> And let me know how the file faired in your leftovers. It supposed to
> do bad things in reheatings.

I wound up just adding a sprinkling of file to the heated (served in a bowl)
result rather than the entire pan. I know it's best in gumbo and this
doesn't have a lot of liquid so I wasn't sure about it as an overall
seasoning, you know? Yes, of course you know! <G>

Jill

While I am a great fan of Zat..... products,
their "Dirty Rice" was most unimpressive.

As you'e said, you've got to add way to many enhancers
to make it a presentable dish.



On Thu, 13 Apr 2006 19:31:09 -0500, "jmcquown" > wrote:

>Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty Rice.
>Not as a side, just for dinner.
>
>Jill
>

<rj>

On 2006-04-14, jmcquown > wrote:

> You still have to simmer it 25 minutes so I don't think they use par-boiled
> rice.

Hmmm... Maybe it was another brand.

nb

> While I am a great fan of Zat..... products, their "Dirty Rice" was
> most unimpressive.

> As you'e said, you've got to add way to many enhancers to make
> it a presentable dish.

I'll second that for the Creole and Jambalaya mixes. I ate this stuff
many, *many* times -- seriously tarted up, with canned tomatoes and
frozen spinach and sliced carrots -- and eventually gave up anyway.
Don't know if it's me or the mixes, but I barely taste anything in
there but salt any more. I know salt is put in instant foods for
flavor, but can't herbs and spices provide that?

notbob wrote:
> On 2006-04-14, jmcquown > wrote:
>
>> You still have to simmer it 25 minutes so I don't think they use
>> par-boiled rice.
>
> Hmmm... Maybe it was another brand.
>
> nb

Maybe Uncle Bens makes something similar? I dunno. It was tasty, though
and I have enough for at least 6 more servings so I'll probably freeze some.

Jill

wrote in news:1145030438.608356.111860
@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

>> While I am a great fan of Zat..... products, their "Dirty Rice" was
>> most unimpressive.
>
>> As you'e said, you've got to add way to many enhancers to make
>> it a presentable dish.
>
> I'll second that for the Creole and Jambalaya mixes. I ate this stuff
> many, *many* times -- seriously tarted up, with canned tomatoes and
> frozen spinach and sliced carrots -- and eventually gave up anyway.
> Don't know if it's me or the mixes, but I barely taste anything in
> there but salt any more. I know salt is put in instant foods for
> flavor, but can't herbs and spices provide that?


I've used their jambalaya mix using hot italian sausage which I steam
cook in a pan of water to half cover over medium temp stove burner
uncovered for about an hour flipping twice or thrice. I poke the skin
"greaee bubbles" to release the inside oils after flipping... use a kabob
skewer (wearing an oven mit) as that juice can really fly. Then I food
process it into large crumbs and work the recipe from there.

http://i2.tinypic.com/vg1wrb.jpg

It's spicy hot that way.

I've seen too many jambalaya recipes to risk following them. But I'll
never forget the jambalaya we had at Mardi Gras on some second-story
balcony overlooking Bourbon Street, back in 1991. Hooked me like a fish
to bait.

Andy

jmcquown wrote:
> Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty Rice.
> Not as a side, just for dinner.
>
> Now, I normally would prepare this as a side using a recipe given to me by a
> former co-worker, Mz. Cloutier from Houma, Louisana. But I suspect she just
> adapted it from Paul Prudhomme's recipe, which I've prepared in the past
> (excellent!). But that serves about 10 people. I'm one people
>
> At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add to this
> so I'm just using ground beef. I'll tart up the mixture with chicken stock
> rather than water; I'll add some diced green bell pepper, onion and garlic
> and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Alas, I have no celery. I'll taste it
> and add some hot sauce and maybe even ground sassafrass leaves (file powder)
> after the rice cooks. File is a thickener as well as a seasoning. This is
> one quick cooking boxed meal which I adore. And as I said, I eat this as a
> meal, over a period of a several days or I can freeze the leftovers. For
> those of you who don't know, cooked rice freezes very well.
>
> Jill

I love Zatarains mixes. The dirty rice is quite good. My favorite,
though, is the Hoppin John. I add another can of black-eyed peas to
the mix--serve with a topping of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chopped
tomato, cucumber and onion. And don't forget cornbread.

Yum!!--r3

: Yes, tonight I'm preparing dinner from a boxed mix. Zatarain's Dirty Rice.
: Not as a side, just for dinner.

: Now, I normally would prepare this as a side using a recipe given to me by a
: former co-worker, Mz. Cloutier from Houma, Louisana. But I suspect she just
: adapted it from Paul Prudhomme's recipe, which I've prepared in the past
: (excellent!). But that serves about 10 people. I'm one people

: At any rate, I have no chicken gizzards or livers to grind up to add to this
: so I'm just using ground beef. I'll tart up the mixture with chicken stock
: rather than water; I'll add some diced green bell pepper, onion and garlic
: and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Alas, I have no celery. I'll taste it
: and add some hot sauce and maybe even ground sassafrass leaves (file powder)
: after the rice cooks. File is a thickener as well as a seasoning. This is
: one quick cooking boxed meal which I adore. And as I said, I eat this as a
: meal, over a period of a several days or I can freeze the leftovers. For
: those of you who don't know, cooked rice freezes very well.

: Jill

Sounds like you and Sandra Lee would get along well together! Are you
a contributor to her show?