Rice Is Nice in This Cool Summer Salad 

f you’re looking for a simple and inexpensive approach to summertime cooking, you can’t go wrong using rice as the base for a variety of flavorful dishes. Any kind of rice you prefer works for these recipes, as long as it’s not instant.  I generally use brown rice because I like the flavor, but if I don’t have it on hand, I substitute long grain or Arborio rice.     

Cook the rice and have it ready before you start the final preparation.  If you’re serving your dish cold, run the rice under cold water so that it doesn’t get mushy, and drain thoroughly. Plan on about one cup of cooked rice per person as a side dish, and a cup and a half to two cups for an entrée. The ingredient quantities in the recipe below are meant to be used with one cup of rice. Increase the amount of vegetables proportionally for each person you serve.

            This recipe can be served hot, but I prefer them at room temperature.  Cook them ahead and let them cool, and you’ll have some extra time to relax with your family or guests, instead of being stuck in the kitchen.

Roasted Vegetables and Rice

            Roasting brings out an unexpected sweet flavor in these vegetables, which perk up the rice. This tasty dish works as an entrée or a side dish.

Ingredients & Preparation

Rice

Fresh asparagus

Green pepper

Red pepper

Sweet white onion

Zucchini

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Minced garlic

Vinaigrette (use your favorite home-made recipe)

            For each person, plan on 4 spears of asparagus; 1/4 green pepper, sliced; 1/4 red pepper, sliced; 1/4 sweet white onion, cut in chunks; and 1/2 small zucchini, sliced.

            Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Oil the bottom of an ovenproof dish large enough to fit all the vegetables in one layer. Place the vegetables in the dish, pour over a bit more olive oil and stir the vegetables until they’re coated. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 15 or 20 minutes, or just until the vegetables start to brown. Sprinkle minced garlic on top and bake for another five minutes.

            Mix the roasted vegetables with the rice, season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add vinaigrette dressing and toss to coat.

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  An avid cook, Nissa Simon writes frequently on health-related topics for various magazines. She was the Health Editor for Reader’s Digest’s New Choices for more than 10 years and now serves on the Editorial Board of MAKING BREAD.

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 Two more rice-salad recipes by Nissa Simon appear in the Cheap & Easy Eats column of the May/June issue of MAKING BREAD. Visit our Subscribe page and check out our “Best Buy” 16-day trial subscription rate pf $5.95, which will give you access to this recipe and all of the other yummy dishes Nissa writes about in each issue of MAKING BREAD.