Insalata di Riso

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for cooking rice
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Large wide serving bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the rice properly

   Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the rice and cook until tender but with a slight firmness at the center, about 15 minutes. This is not risotto. You cook the rice like pasta, in abundant water, so each grain cooks evenly and remains separate. Taste a grain at 12 minutes and every minute after. When done, drain thoroughly in a fine-mesh strainer.

   Use a starchy Italian rice, not long-grain. The slight stickiness helps the dressing cling. Arborio works. Carnaroli is better. Never use basmati or jasmine.
2. 2

   Dress while warm

   Transfer the drained rice immediately to a large, wide bowl. While the rice is still warm, drizzle with half the olive oil and all the vinegar. Toss gently with a fork, lifting and separating the grains. The warm rice absorbs the dressing and develops flavor that cold rice cannot. Spread the rice in the bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Do not refrigerate yet.

3. 3

   Prepare the additions

   While the rice cools, prepare your vegetables. The pickled vegetables should be drained well and chopped to bite-size pieces if necessary. The fresh peppers and celery should be cut smaller than you think, no larger than the rice grains themselves. This ensures every forkful contains a balanced variety.

4. 4

   Combine everything

   When the rice has cooled to room temperature, add the flaked tuna, pickled vegetables, both olives, cornichons, capers, peppers, and celery. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Toss gently but thoroughly, turning from the bottom so nothing hides at the base of the bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Go carefully with the salt. The olives, capers, and pickled vegetables bring considerable salt already.

   Taste before adding salt. Taste again after. The pickled elements vary in brininess. You may need none at all.
5. 5

   Rest and serve

   Cover the salad and refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to two days. The flavors marry and deepen. Before serving, remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes early. Cold dulls flavor. Taste again and adjust the seasoning. Add the chopped parsley, toss once more, and serve at cool room temperature.

Chef Tips

• •Seek out Italian tuna packed in olive oil, sold as 'tonno' in good markets. It has a richness and texture that water-packed tuna cannot match. The oil itself can become part of the dressing.
• •The additions are suggestions, not commandments. Some families add artichoke hearts. Others include hard-boiled eggs or cubed mortadella. What matters is the balance of textures and flavors, and that everything is cut to a similar, small size.
• •Never serve this salad ice cold. Thirty minutes at room temperature awakens the flavors. If you taste it straight from the refrigerator, you taste almost nothing.
• •Italian markets sell condiriso in jars, vegetables already cut and pickled for this exact purpose. If you find it, use it. If not, giardiniera mixed with a few cornichons achieves the same effect.

Advance Preparation

• •The salad must rest at least one hour after assembly, but improves after 24 hours. The flavors become unified.
• •Insalata di riso keeps beautifully for up to three days refrigerated. Add the parsley just before serving, as it fades.
• •This is ideal make-ahead food for entertaining. The work happens a day early. The day of, you simply carry it to the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)