WHB - Dirty Rice With Shrimp

I subscribe to Food & Wine magazine, and am always tearing out recipes to try. So, when I stumbled upon Quick from Scratch One-Dish Meals Cookbook by Food & Wine Magazine for only $4.99 at one of those discount bookstores, I knew I had to grab it. I actually purchased three that day, this one, and one on soups and salads, and another on herbs. I have got to say that these are probably my most reliable cookbooks ever. I have never made anything from them that wasn't fabulous and full of flavor. This is the cookbook that has the Salmon with Thai Rice Salad, that is absolutely wonderful.

The recipe for Dirty Rice with Shrimp is available on their website, and I've also included it here.

Dirty Rice with Shrimp
Serves 4

ingredients
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/2 pound ground pork
1 onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
3 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1 pound medium shrimp, shelled and halved
2 scallions including green tops, chopped

directions
In a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderate heat. Add the pork and cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 2 minutes.

Reduce the heat to moderately low and add the remaining tablespoon oil to the pan. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cayenne, paprika, oregano, bay leaf, salt, black pepper, and rice. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add the broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Raise the heat to moderate and stir in the shrimp. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand, covered, until the rice and shrimp are just done, about 5 minutes longer. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the scallions.

This really is good and so easy! It makes a wonderful weeknight meal. The hardest part was peeling the shrimp. If I have time, one of the things I like to do, is to put the shrimp shells in the chicken broth and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, before straining and adding the broth to the recipe. It really gives it some extra flavor, but if you don't have time, that step is totally optional! And the wine recommended was a Beaujolais Nouveau. And believe it or not, we actually had some of that wine in our wine cellar! Note...by wine cellar, I mean old Peaches records crates sitting at the bottom of our stairs in the garage/basement, holding about 8 bottles of wine. It was wonderful! Those people that come up the wine recommendations really know their stuff, it totally made the whole meal complete!

And this is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging , hosted this week by Claudia at Fool for Food. I know that it's only dried herbs in this dish, but, heck it is the middle of winter here! Plus I have had a cold, that became a sinus infection, that became a cold again, and then became a sinus infection again! Not good, people. I am completely miserable and on my second try of antibiotics. But this dish tasted good, even with all that going on, so that should be your clue, that you need to try it!