Cold rice with peppers and salmon , a tasty, light first course suitable for hot first courses, easy to prepare in advance.
It is not the classic rice salad with dozens of canned vegetables, which by the way I don’t like very much. It is an appropriate preparation for the summer season, starring one of the most loved and consumed vegetables in these months.
Together with the pepper I put the salmon in oil , which lately I often buy to replace the tuna. I will go against the grain, but I love almost all preserved fish: tuna, salmon, mackerel, anchovies, etc. Both for their flavor, nutritional properties, and for their practicality of use in the kitchen.
But I find that the tuna, even if in glazed fillets, is increasingly poor and disappointing. So I prefer to fall back on salmon, which is farmed and fatter, but always guarantees a minimum of quality.
In rice and pasta salads it is delicious, it goes well with various types of vegetables and with peppers I love it.
So try it with this cold rice, which does not necessarily include sauces and I seasoned with simple extra virgin olive oil, salt, basil and a pinch of pepper.
Cold rice peppers and salmon
Ingredients for 4 servings
300 g of arborio rice
250 g of salmon in oil (drained weight)
2 red peppers (about 500 g)
1 bunch of basil
Extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic
Salt and pepper
Boil the rice in salted water, check that it remains al dente, then drain it well. Put it flat on a large baking dish, so that it cools quickly and does not continue cooking.
Also prepare the salmon, carefully draining it from the canned oil. After that cut it into chunks.
In the meantime, wash and dry the peppers, cut them in half, remove the stalk, the seeds and the internal white parts. Cut them into strips and cut these into cubes.
Pour 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a pan, heat it and season with the sliced garlic, then remove the latter.
Add the pepper cubes, salt to taste (½ teaspoon should suffice), mix and cover the pan well.
Cook for about 15 minutes, checking every now and then that the natural liquid of the peppers does not shrink, if necessary add a few tablespoons of water.
When cooked, turn off the heat, uncover and let it cool, then add a handful of finely chopped basil leaves.
Transfer the cold rice to a salad bowl, add the salmon, peppers with any cooking liquid and mix.
Now taste to adjust any addition of salt and oil to season the rice salad well. Finally, add a freshly ground pepper, mix, cover and let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
The cold rice with peppers and salmon is ready to be served, if you like you can also add mayonnaise.
