Low Country Red Rice Recipes

CHARLESTON RED RICE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
• Bring the rice, water, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.
• While the rice is cooking, cook the bacon in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Reserve about 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings in the pan. Reduce heat to medium. Drain the bacon on a plate lined with paper towels; crumble the bacon once cooled enough to handle.
• Cook and stir the onions in the reserved bacon drippings until translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the crumbled bacon, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce; bring the mixture to a simmer, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Spoon the cooked rice into the prepared baking dish and stir the tomato-bacon mixture into the rice until evenly combined.
• Cover the dish and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

CHARLESTON RED RICE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish; set aside.
• In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 7-8 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving the drippings in the pan. Melt butter in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until the onion softens, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste, kosher salt, sugar and pepper. Cook for 1 more minute.
• Add the bacon, water and rice. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced slightly, about 8-10 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet as you stir.
• Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Cover and bake until the rice is tender, about 40-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
• Fluff the rice, garnish with fresh parsley, and serve.

LOW COUNTRY RED RICE

Steps:

• Fry the bacon pieces until they are crisp, then remove the cooked bacon from the frying pan and reserve. In the bacon drippings fry the onion until limp. Add the tomato juice or V8, salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce and bring up to a boil. Put in the rice and stir until it comes up to a boil again. Cover the pan and turn the heat down to very low. Cook the dish for 20 minutes without disturbing. At the end of this time remove the cover and stir up the contents of the pan. Cover again, remove from heat, and let stand 15 minutes. Add the reserved bacon and serve.

LOWCOUNTRY RED RICE

Steps:

• If using fresh tomatoes, drain them in a sieve or colander set over a bowl to catch their juices; set juices aside.
• In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until it is beginning to crisp; with a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain.
• Return Dutch oven of drippings to the stove; add the onion, bell pepper, and celery; saute until softened, about 10 minutes (add a little oil if the bacon fat seems insufficient).
• Add the jalapeno, poblano, tomatoes, bay leaves, and thyme to the pot; season with salt and pepper to taste; simmer for about 10 minutes, until the peppers have softened.
• Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the broth with a scant 1/4 cup of the reserved tomato juices (discard any remaining juice) and add salt to taste.
• Bring to a simmer; add the rice, return to a simmer, and stir a few times.
• Decrease heat to the lowest setting, cover, and cook until the rice is tender, about 16 minutes.
• Add the rice to the vegetable mixture, along with the bacon; taste for seasonings.
• Stir in the scallions, basil, and a big squeeze of lemon; serve immediately.

LOWCOUNTRY RED RICE

Steps:

• Cook bacon slices in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp.
• Remove bacon,and drain on paper towels,reserving 2 tablespoons of drippings in skillet.
• Crumble bacon; set aside.
• Saute diced onion in hot drippings in skillet over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until tender but not browned.
• Add tomato paste to skillet, stirring until mixture is smooth.
• Gradually stir in the chicken broth, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet.
• Stir in sugar, salt and pepper.
• Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.
• Combine tomato mixture and rice in top portion of a cooktop rice steamer; stir in crumbled bacon.
• Add water to bottom of steamer, and bring to boil over high heat.
• Place top of steamer over boiling water.
• Reduce heat to medium-high; cover and cook 1 hour or until rice is tender, stirring every 15 minutes.
• To prepare in oven, stir the rice into the tomato mixture in the skillet and bring to a boil; stir in bacon pieces. Pour mixture into a lightly greased oven-proof Dutch oven. Cover and cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally.