Riso Fangoso (Muddy Rice)

Riso Fangoso (Muddy Rice)

Dirty Rice is one of our favorite dinners. It is easy to make, very inexpensive and a great way to use up the end pieces of veggies and meat. Oh, and it is delicious!

I had ½ pound of spicy Italian sausage that I was worried about going bad. So, I decided to fuse my two heritages-Southern and Italian. What a great idea! I had some pepperoni and pancetta. I threw in some oregano and eccolo lì (there it is!) I’m calling it Riso Fangoso or Muddy Rice. Mmmmmm.

Make sure you use the largest skillet that you have. Don’t worry if the meat mixture is a little oily, the rice absorbs that. Throw in anything that you might put as a topping on a pizza (except cheese.) Olives and meatballs would taste great in this rice. You can serve this as a side dish or as a main.

Servings: 5 cups of rice

Hardware:  A cutting board and knives, measuring spoons and cups, a large pot, a very large skillet, a wooden spoon, a strainer

Time:  Active time 20 minutes; Cook: 30-35 Minutes: rice in less than 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups rice
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 + 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 ounces Spicy Italian Sausage, removed from the casing
• 4 ounces pancetta
• 4 ounces pepperoni
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 small tomato (6 ounces)
• ½ small onion (4 ounces)
• ½ small bell pepper (4 ounces)
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• Olive oil for the bottom of the skillet

1.  Put the chicken broth onto boil. Throw in one sprig of rosemary and the bay leaves. When the broth has begun to boil, stir in the rice. Boil for 20 minutes,
2. While the rice is cooking, dice the garlic, celery, onion and pepper, the smaller the better.  Seed and roughly chop the tomato. Set aside.
3. Dice the pancetta and pepperoni. Heat the olive oil over medium high with the other sprig of rosemary and the oregano. Add the meats. Cook and crumble until the sausage is no longer pink. This will take about 6-7 minutes.  Stir often, making sure to break up the sausage. Add the veggies and cook until the onions are soft, stirring often enough to keep anything from sticking. The veggies should finish up at the same time as the rice.
4. Drain the rice. Remove the bay leaves and both sprigs of rosemary. Stir the rice into the meat mixture. Adjust the salt. Serve right away.

You might like my original Dirty Rice recipe.

Make sure you use a LARGE skillet