Insalata di riso
An Italian holiday salad, made in the morning and eaten on the beach — which explains its construction. The rice is cooked a minute short and spread thin to cool, because warm it would absorb all the dressing and clump into a ball. The second condition is an hour in the fridge before serving: the rice needs time to take up the oil, lemon and pickled vegetables, and eaten immediately it tastes like cold rice with things in it.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Rice 20 min
- Cooling 30 min
- Additions 20 min
- Chilling 60 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneCook the rice a minute short
Boil the rice like pasta, in plenty (about 3 litres) of salted water, a minute less than the packet says — usually about 15 minutes. The grains should stay firm — they soften further in the dressing, and overcooked rice turns to a sticky mass after an hour in the fridge.
Ingredients: 350 g rice · 2 tsp salt · 2 tbsp olive oil
Spread the rice thin to cool
Drain, toss with two tablespoons of oil and spread in a thin layer on a tray. The oil separates the grains and the thin layer cools them in half an hour, rather than the several hours they would take in the pan. Turn with a fork now and then. Meanwhile hard-boil the eggs (10 minutes from boiling) and cool them in cold water.
Ingredients: 350 g rice · 2 tsp salt · 2 tbsp olive oil
A thin layer and oil — the grains stay separate.Dice everything to the same size
Cut the peppers, mozzarella and giardiniera vegetables into dice the size of a corn kernel, dice the peeled eggs a little larger and break the tuna into small flakes with a fork. That even, small dice is not presentation: every spoonful should contain everything, not one large piece of pepper.
Ingredients: 240 g tinned tuna · 3 pcs eggs · 2 pcs peppers · 100 g olives · 2 tbsp capers · 200 g giardiniera · 150 g mozzarella · 150 g sweetcorn
Dice the size of a corn kernel — everything in one spoon.Mix the dressing
Whisk the oil with the lemon juice, oregano and pepper. No salt — the capers, olives, giardiniera and tuna bring plenty, and the rice was cooked in salted water. Add more only after chilling, if needed.
Ingredients: 6 tbsp olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1 tsp oregano · 15 pcs basil · ½ tsp black pepper
Fold everything into the rice
Add the ingredients to the cooled rice, pour over the dressing and fold with a large spoon, lifting from the bottom. Do not stir vigorously — the mozzarella and egg break up and the salad turns mushy.
Ingredients: 240 g tinned tuna · 3 pcs eggs · 2 pcs peppers · 100 g olives · 2 tbsp capers · 200 g giardiniera · 150 g mozzarella · 150 g sweetcorn
Fold gently from the bottom — the egg should stay in pieces.Chill an hour and add basil
Chill an hour so the rice takes up the flavours. Just before serving fold in fresh basil and check the seasoning — chilled, flavours are muted and the salad usually wants more lemon juice.
Ingredients: 6 tbsp olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1 tsp oregano · 15 pcs basil · ½ tsp black pepper
Before you start
Giardiniera brings the acidity
Italian vegetables in vinegar — pepper, carrot, cauliflower, celery — are standard here and give the salad its character. Without them insalata di riso turns bland; chopped gherkins and pickled peppers stand in.
What else goes in
Home versions include ham, diced cheese, peas, artichokes in oil, pieces of sausage or prawns. One rule: everything finely diced and nothing that weeps — tomatoes are out.
Two days in the fridge
In a sealed container in the fridge the salad keeps two days and is better on the second. The rice absorbs the dressing, so add a spoonful of oil and a squeeze of lemon before serving again. Do not freeze — the mozzarella, eggs and vegetables weep water once thawed, and the rice hardens.
