Red Rice Salad with Garden Vegetables
A nutty flavour, mixed grilled garden vegetables, our Il Cardinale that holds its own even when served cold. The summer salad we make at home.
A summer salad with Il Cardinale (wholegrain red rice) boiled the English way and cooled, with grilled pepper, courgette and aubergine, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and fresh green beans, a balsamic reduction and garden herbs. Vegan, gluten-free. Ready in ninety minutes including the rest in the fridge, with our Cardinale from Lumellogno that withstands cooling without going mushy and brings the nutty flavour typical of our wholegrain red rice.
On the Novara plain, when the vegetable garden starts giving us peppers, courgettes and aubergines all at once, the first rice salad we make at home in Lumellogno is this one: our Cardinale with a mix of grilled and raw vegetables. It has an unmistakable nutty flavour, a toasted note you taste at the first bite that sets it apart from any other rice for salads. The vegetables, some run over the grill and others left fresh to bring a watery lift, complete a dish that lives entirely on contrast: the toasted note of the rice, the smokiness of the grill, the freshness of tomato and cucumber.
There is a technical reason why we use Il Cardinale for salads rather than a white rice. It is a wholegrain red rice, with the pericarp left intact, and its structure is tenacious: the grain withstands boiling the English way, cooling under running water, resting in the fridge, and it does not break down. We grow it in our paddies at Lumellogno and dry it at a low temperature, a slow process that is the reason the grain stays whole in contact with the dressing. In a cold dish where the rice has to stay separate and defined, it is the difference between a clean mouthful and a sticky salad.
Ingredients for 4 People
Ingredients
- 320 g Il Cardinale Acqua e Sole rice (wholegrain red rice)
- 1 medium red or yellow pepper (about 200 g)
- 1 medium courgette (about 200 g)
- 1 small aubergine (about 250 g)
- 200 g cherry or datterino tomatoes
- 1 medium crisp cucumber (about 250 g)
- 150 g fresh green beans
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (for the reduction)
- 1 teaspoon sugar (for the reduction)
- to taste fine salt, coarse salt, black pepper
- to taste fresh basil, thyme, parsley
- 50 g toasted pine nuts (optional)
Notes from Our Kitchen
- Il Cardinale should be boiled the English way (rice drained in plenty of salted water) and cooled at once under running water: the grain stays separate and holds its structure
- Oil on the rice as soon as it is drained: it stops the grains sticking while you prepare the vegetables
- Aubergines salted for five minutes to draw off the bitter water: without this step they go limp in the cold salad and the bitterness comes through the next day
- Drizzle the balsamic reduction only at the very end of assembly: if it goes in earlier it blackens the rice and the pale vegetables
- All cuts around one centimetre: the look and the feel on the palate both depend on consistent sizing
Method
Boiling Il Cardinale the English way (35 min)
We bring a large pot with two litres of salted water to the boil (one level tablespoon of coarse salt). Tip in the 320 g of Il Cardinale and cook over a medium heat for thirty-five minutes, stirring now and then. Boiling the English way, with the rice drained rather than absorbed, is the right technique for cold salads: the grain stays separate and holds its structure.
Cooling the rice (5 min)
Once cooked, drain the rice and run it straight under cold running water, stirring with a spoon to cool it evenly. Let it drain well, then transfer it to a wide bowl and dress it at once with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil: this stops the grains sticking while you prepare the vegetables.
Preparing the vegetables for the grill (5 min)
Wash the pepper, courgette and aubergine. Cut the pepper into wide strips, removing the seeds and white pith. Slice the courgette lengthways into pieces about five millimetres thick. Slice the aubergine into five-millimetre rounds, salt them lightly and leave them for five minutes to draw off the bitter water, then pat them dry with kitchen paper.
Grilling the vegetables (10 min)
Heat a griddle or a non-stick grill pan well. Brush the vegetables lightly with extra virgin olive oil. Grill the pepper, courgette and aubergine on both sides until they take on colour and soften but stay firm. Transfer them to a board, let them cool a little, then cut everything into strips or cubes of about one centimetre, all even.
Blanched green beans (8 min)
Top and tail the green beans. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, drop in the beans and cook them for six to seven minutes until they are tender but with a little bite left. Drain and cool them at once in iced water to stop the cooking and fix the bright green. Drain well and cut them into three-centimetre pieces.
Raw tomatoes and cucumber (3 min)
Wash the tomatoes and cut them in half (or into quarters if they are large). Wash and dry the cucumber. If the skin is tough or waxed, peel it in alternating strips, leaving some green bands for colour. Cut it lengthways, scoop out the central seeds with a teaspoon if they are too watery, then cut it into even one-centimetre cubes, matching the cut of the grilled vegetables.
Balsamic reduction (5 min)
In a small pan combine the three tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and the teaspoon of sugar. Bring to a gentle boil over a low heat and let it reduce for four or five minutes, until it becomes a syrupy glaze that coats the back of the spoon. Take it off the heat and let it cool a little: it thickens further as it cools.
Fresh herbs and assembly (4 min)
Wash the basil, thyme and parsley and dry them gently. Tear the basil by hand (never with a knife, it oxidises and blackens), pick the thyme leaves, chop the parsley roughly. In a large bowl combine the cold rice, the grilled vegetables, the green beans, the tomatoes, the cucumber and the herbs. Dress with the remaining extra virgin olive oil, fine salt and black pepper. Fold gently from the bottom upwards. Only at the very end of assembly drizzle the balsamic reduction over the surface.
Resting in the fridge and serving (30 min)
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least thirty minutes before serving. This is when the flavours come together and the dish finds its balance. When you serve, fold it gently once more, taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Transfer to individual bowls or deep plates. If you like, scatter the fifty grams of toasted pine nuts on top. Serve cold with a drizzle of raw oil.
Summer in the kitchen at Lumellogno
Rice salads at our house begin when the garden turns generous: the first peppers, the courgettes that never stop, the aubergines that ripen one after another. Then out comes the grill, the big pot goes on for Il Cardinale, and the basket of just-picked tomatoes is washed. It is a dish put together in the kitchen but lived on the plain, with the windows open and air that smells of cut fields. The rice cools under the water, the vegetables pass over the griddle, the balsamic simmers in its little pan. No complicated recipe, just the garden and the rice we grow here.
Lumellogno · Novara plain
Why Il Cardinale holds up to the cold of the salad
For rice salads eaten cold in high summer, here at Lumellogno there is one variety we keep in stock at home all through the warm months: our Cardinale. It is a wholegrain red rice, with the pericarp left intact, with a nutty flavour you taste at the first bite and a tenacious structure that withstands boiling, cooling and resting in the fridge without breaking down. We dry it at a low temperature in our drying house, a slow process that is the technical reason the grain does not release its starch when it meets the vegetables.
«In a cold salad the rice has to stay separate and defined. Il Cardinale, dried at a low temperature, keeps the grain whole even after cooling and resting in the fridge, and brings a toasted, nutty note that no white rice can give. For summer salads it is the natural choice for us.» From the Acqua e Sole kitchen, Lumellogno
We grow it at Lumellogno, west of Novara, and process it on site with low-temperature drying in our drying house. It is a closed supply chain with ISO 9001 certified production, from seed to grain, which lets us guarantee the same quality in every pack. On the nutritional side, wholegrain red rice brings high fibre, antioxidants and minerals. With cold salads of garden vegetables you taste the difference at the first spoonful: a whole grain, a defined structure, a clean nutty note.
Questions about red rice salad
Which red rice should I use for a summer salad?
Can I use vegetables other than those listed?
Can I make the salad the day before?
Recommended Pairing
To go with red rice salad and garden vegetables, in high summer we happily open a well-chilled Erbaluce di Caluso, Piedmont’s house white: its dry minerality supports the toasted note of the rice and converses with the sweetness of the grilled vegetables.
For those after some bubbles, a young Alta Langa Pas Dosé cuts through the balsamic reduction and refreshes the fresh tomato. Avoid the big reds: in a cold, vegetable dish they cover the garden and make the nutty grain disappear.
Riso Rosso Cardinale Acqua e Sole
Our wholegrain red rice, grown at Lumellogno and processed in our own rice mill. A tenacious grain, a clean nutty flavour, dried at a low temperature to keep the surface starch intact. The right variety for cold summer salads: it withstands boiling the English way, cooling under running water and resting in the fridge without breaking down, and brings the toasted note that no white rice can give.
Bring Il Cardinale homeOriginal Acqua e Sole recipe, from our kitchen at Lumellogno.