We always have a red rice dish on the buffet table at The Lady & Sons. Here we added beef to the skillet to turn our Cajun-influenced red rice dish into an easy crowd-pleaser. Since we’re on the Georgia coast, we’ll also do red rice with sausage and shrimp, so you can use that instead if you like: Just brown crumbled sausage in place of the beef and stir in a half pound of shelled shrimp for the last five minutes of simmering (or until they’re pink).
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Crumble the beef into the skillet and season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Brown the beef, breaking it up with a fork, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the meat is no longer pink. Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate to drain.
Step 2
Reduce the heat to medium-high and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the drippings from the skillet. Sauté the diced celery, onion, and bell pepper in the skillet for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Add the browned beef, chicken broth, 1 1/2 cups of water, the tomato purée, rice, sugar, the remaining 1 3/4 tea-spoons salt, and the Tabasco and bring to a boil.
Step 3
Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, covered, for 40 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Garnish with the chopped celery leaves (if desired).
