I make my dirty rice the day before & let it chill overnight so I don't get as scalded. Collards can be prepped the day before too - both up to 2 or 3 days before fine. Really makes life easier & less scaldy to do parts ahead.
Dirty Rice -
- 1 lb Gizzards (chicken is fine but I use turkey)
- 2 3/4 cups chicken broth (we use turkey broth from the carcasses of our smoked turkeys - make it & freeze it up)
- 2 cups water
- 2T bacon grease
- 1 lb breakfast sausage, cooked, drained & crumbled
- 3 stalks celery, fine chop
- 1 large bell pepper , chopped fine
- 1 medium red bell pepper , chopped fine
- 2 medium onions , chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 2 cups chopped scallion (green onions, about 15 medium)
- 2 medium carrots , finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 4 garlic cloves , crushed & minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, coarse ground
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme , dried
- 5 cups brown rice, partially cooked (measure before cooking)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 lb chicken liver (turkey if you can get it)
In a medium saucepan, bring the gizzards, chicken broth, and water to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the gizzards are tender, about 45 minutes. Reserving the broth, remove the gizzards, and when they are cool enough to handle, mince them ( or several pulses in food processor - just don't make paste) and set them aside.
Saute the minced gizzards over medium heat in bacon grease (or olive oil) until browned, about 5 minutes.
Add the green and red bell peppers, the onion, scallions, carrots, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and cayenne. Cook over medium heat until vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the rice and reserved broth. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Stir once, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is just softening but still uncooked in center, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chicken livers and saute until firm, about 5 minutes. Let the livers cool slightly, then coarsely chop them. Toss the chicken livers and sausage with the rice. Cover and let sit until cool enough to handle or chill overnight in the fridge.
Collards -
Pop your leaves off the collard stalk, starting at the bottom. You want palm-size or bigger - palm and a half or so for each roll. Use a knife to cut out stems. Tear the smaller leaves into bite sized pieces.
Wash leaves & stalks thoroughly.
Set an open kettle of salted water to boil. Blanch the leaves to be used until just pliable, no more than a few at a time or the bottom ones will cook too much.
Drain the water & layer the stalks in a dutch oven or other oven safe lidded pan & cover them with the torn smaller leaves. Crockpot awesome here.
Roll the dirty rice mix in the collards as you would do for cabbage rolls & pack them in on the beds of torn collards. Size will vary based on leaves & your skills/patience. Make it easy - plop filling on distal 1/3 of leaf, fold in sides over filling & roll 'er up towards you - tight as you can.
Pour in 1 quart of sauce (this is a bone of contention here - I like our home canned tomato sauce while my DF prefers tomato soup diluted by 1/2) & enough water to cover rolls. If you need more than 2 cups of water, use additional sauce to cover rolls. You want plenty of sauce to dip crusty garlic bead into while you eat the rolls.
Bake at 300 in covered pan/dutch oven for 2 hours - remove lid for second hour if sauce seems runny.
Serve hot or slightly warm. Freeze great. Microwave re-heat fine. Would be fine to use small leaves as shred in the rolls if you want.
This usually makes about 40 rolls. Your mileage may vary.
They are good. Real good.
I actually heated up a frozen quart bag of these tonight (knowing I needed to post this) to go with our venison meatloaf _ they were awesome.
Cook 'em up Scott!