Dirty Rice!

In recent years I have learned that on occasion I am a fan of Cajun cuisine. Not all Cajun cuisine, but some of it works for me. Jambalaya for one...I love it. Sadly the spouse is not as fond of it as I. I have never tried Gumbo, someday I will get up the gumption to try it (get it? Gumbo/gumption? ok nvm back to the story.) but for me the big turnoff is the okra. I cannot really explain it, but okra just makes me gag. just thnking of it really makes me a little icky. But I digress. Last week, as we got towards the end of our monthly fundage, we needed to make use of a couple of pounds of ground round in the freezer. I remember having the Army's version of dirty rice a time or two and I always kind of liked it, a nice simple hearty meal. For those that have never had it, it really boils down to this (oh look! another food pun) rice with onions garlic peppers and ground beef. So off to the store I went armed with the knowledge that we literally had beans to get by on for the week, So I bought a bag of brown rice, some poblanos (have I mentioned before how wonderful poblanos are?) and some lovely concentrated soup base made by Knorr which came in a nice 4 pack for under $4.00. Home I went excited by how thrifty I had been at the store and ready to do some serious grubbing. Upon arrival at our domocile I gathered my ingredients as follows:

2 lbs Ground Round (80/20)
Garlic of course, I use quite a lot, but for this i used minced garlic from a jar.
1 Spanish onion (love Vidalias, but I did not want a really sweet onion for this)
2 Poblano peppers (ask for them by name)
Approximately 2 tbsp of olive oil (I never measure the oil in the pan)
2 of the small cups of that lovely Knorr beef soup base or concentrated broth...I will look it up and post it later
4 cups of water
4 cups of brown rice

So the actual preparation of the dish is fairly simple. First into the pan with some olive oil and get it heating. Chop your vegetables to your liking, but in dirty rice, at least any that I have ever eaten, they are fairly finely chopped, which is what I did. Onion and garlic always go in first, as they take the longest to really sweat out the flavors you want. While they are sweating in the pan you can dice up the poblanos. Hint: When using poblanos, if you remove the seeds and the placenta (the lighter green ribs inside) you will get a more mild flavor, leaving the seeds and placenta will result in more heat. When the onions begin to brown some stir in the peppers. This is also the appropriate time to add some salt, black pepper, white pepper and either crushed or ground red pepper to the mix. Do not be afraid to taste your cooking and adjust as needed. Also remember at this point, you want some strong flavors because the beef and the rice will be absorbing it as we progress from here. Once the peppers are tender, add the beef and brown it right in with the vegetables. Some people would choose to remove the veggies before browning the meat, but you want all of that flaver to get into the beef as it cooks. Now comes a dilemma, Drain the meat or not? Well for me, no. The grease, while it is of course not real healthy, now contains a lot of flavor, and you lose some of it if you drain it off, but if you are a health nut, on a diet, or just bothered by somewhat greasy food, by all means drain it away. At this point, add the beef soup base, all of the rice and water, and mix well. bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover it and heed my words here...leave it alone for the next 50 minutes. I was very worried that with my pans it would burn so after about 35 minutes I opened it. The result was my rice was a tad underdone. Set the heat to low and trust that it will work out and leave it be for the 50 minutes.
Please bear in mind that this is not minute rice, but whole grain brown rice. Trust me, it is better.
The end result, aside from the slightly underdone rice was a delicious meal that did not cost us more than $10 and fed our whole family with plenty left for lunch the day after.