How dirty is too dirty?

Tonight's dinner inspiration is Cajun based.  Dirty rice with fresh cornbread and creamy coleslaw.  I didn't have all the ingredients in the house for the dirty rice so I improvised.  

Now the recipes I have found online all talk about using ground pork, bacon and chicken livers. For my recipe I used salt pork instead of bacon, ground chicken instead of pork and I omitted the livers.  I also used a good quality brown rice instead of long grain white and I used my own spice blend for the recipe.  Does this mean that it wasn't dirty enough?  Nope, it just means it was a different kind of dirty, but it was still heavenly.

If you're looking to try dirty rice from scratch you may want to check out this recipe, it gives great step by step instructions:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/dirty_rice/

The only problem with this recipe is that it is missing the Cajun seasoning ingredients, so if you are looking for a pretty straight forward seasoning recipe, check out, the Creole seasoning recipe from Chef Emeril Lagasse:

http://homecooking.about.com/od/spicerecipes/r/blspice14.htm  

The difference between my Cajun seasoning and his is:

• I add 2 tbsp smoked paprika + 1 tbsp regular paprika
• I omit 1 tbsp salt and replace with 1 tbsp of celery salt
• I add 1 tsp of crushed red chili peppers
• I omit the oregano and add 1 tbsp of sage

If you are looking for something different, that makes your soul happy, this is it!

Enjoy!