Dirty John
This is the perfect marriage of Dirty Rice and Hoppin’ John. Dirty rice is a Cajun dish made of rice, ground beef chicken livers, onion, bell pepper, celery and Cajun spices. Hoppin’ John is a black eyed pea stew served over rice. My fathers side of the family is from the Caribbean, and he had his own version of “Rice and Peas” which I also took some influence from in creating this recipe. In his version, he would add tomato paste and bacon.
Bacon? I thought this was all “healthy” food. In my defense, I use and would recommend bacon that has is all natural, uncured, no nitrates, preservatives or added hormones. For beef, my recommendation would be organic, grass feed beef preferably about 90% or more lean. If these items are a bit pricey for you, or you don’t do beef or pork, you can always substitute it with ground turkey, turkey bacon and chicken stock to keep it even more on the healthy side. You will also notice I use brown rice in the recipe, because it is higher in fiber and nutrients. This recipe is designed with brown rice in mind. If you opt to use white rice, or a par cooked or quick brown rice, all ingredients must be added to the pot before the lid is put on the pot for the rice to simmer so that the everything is perfectly cooked. If you choose to do this, use 1/2 cup less liquid in the pot.
I also omitted the chicken livers (Not a fan). Now, having said all that, let’s begin!
Dirty John
Equipment
- Medium stockpot or cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 5 Pieces Bacon
- ⅓ Cup Onion Diced
- ½ Cup Bell Pepper Diced
- 1 Stalk Celery Sliced about ¼ inch
- 5 Cloves Garlic Finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Olive, coconut or avocado oil keep it healthier!
- 1 Cup Brown Rice
- 3 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1 cup Water
- 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 2 Tsp Dried Oregano
- 2 Tsp Dried Thyme
- 2 Tsp Cumin
- 2½ Cup Beef stock Low sodium
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 Can Black eyed peas 15 ounces
- 1 lb Lean ground beef Organic, grass fed is best
- Salt and Pepper To taste
Instructions
- In a medium size stockpot or cast iron skillet, cook bacon. As bacon is cooking, dice up onion, bell pepper and celery.
- When bacon is done, dice into chunks put it off to the side. Pour off fat and discard (if you prefer using it later, keep about 2 tbsp for sauteing veggies).
- For healthier version, get olive, coconut, or avocado (your choice) oil and heat up in pan. Add onion, celery, bell pepper and rice over medium heat (If you prefer, use the 2 tbsp bacon fat instead). Dice garlic and add to pan. cook until rice and veggies are lightly toasted .
- Get tomato paste and 3 tbsp of the water and mix together. Add remaining water and beef stock to pan with rice and vegetables on medium heat. Mix spices (except for salt and pepper) into tomato paste mix and add to pot. Mix well. Add bacon and bay leaves.
- Bring contents in pot to a boil. Put a lid on top and turn down heat to a simmer for 30 minutes.
- Cook beef with salt and pepper in skillet till brown. While beef is cooking, drain liquid from black eyed peas. After the rice mix has cooked for 30 minutes, add beef and drained black eyed peas. Stir well and simmer another 20 minutes or till done.