Nonna Lina’s Italian Rice Salad Recipe

My Nonna’s Italian rice salad recipe always takes me back to my childhood! This cold rice salad is perfect for summer barbecues, parties, or as lunch! The great thing about this delicious and easy Italian rice salad recipe is that you can customize it to your tastes! Feel free to replace the ham with tuna, or leave out the cannellini beans or capers. It’s up to you!

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🥑🍓🥦🍉🍋 INGREDIENTS 🥔🥚🍫🧁🎂🍰

275 grams (1 1/2 cups) long-grain rice
700 ml (3 cups) water
4 eggs
6 grams (1 tsp.) salt
15 ml (1 tbsp.) lemon juice
115 grams (1/2 cup) mayonnaise
150 grams (1 cup) cheese (provalone, mozzarella, Swiss cheese etc.)
100 grams (3/4 cup) ham (ham, ham hock, mortadella etc.)
80 grams (1/2 cup) chopped mixed olives
100 grams (1 cup) mixture of corn and peas
260 grams (1 1/2 cups) cannellini beans (optional)
25 grams (1/4 cup) capers, chopped
290 grams (1 cup) giardiniera, chopped

This recipe serves 4 – 6 people as a main meal, or 8 – 12 people as a side dish.

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Chapters:

0:00 – How to cook the rice
1:13 – Preparing the hard-boiled eggs
1:39 – How to know when the rice is ready
2:16 – How to easily peel hard-boiled eggs
3:04 – Strain the rice
3:19 – Making the Italian rice salad
4:54 – Serving amount, storage and make this next!

#ricerecipe #italiancusine #italianfood

I can’t wait to show you my Nonna Pasqualina’s Italian rice salad! If you’ve only ever had Italian rice as a risotto, you’re missing out! This salad is so refreshing and perfect for summertime, and it’s great to use up any little bits left in jars in your refrigerator. So let’s get into it. Start by giving your 275 grams (1 1/2 cups) of rice a really good wash. I like to agitate mine with my fingers and you’ll see the water becomes really cloudy. Pour that water off, add more fresh water and continue to agitate. You want to do this two or three times until the water starts to become clear. My Nonna always used a long grain rice, so make sure you’re using something like Basmati. You can even use a wild grain rice, if you want. It’s perfect for this salad. Add your rice to a large pot and then add in about 700 ml (3 cups) of water. You can add a little bit more now, or if you need to top it up later on, you can do that as well. You don’t have to worry about ratios of water; just make sure that there’s enough water in the pot so that it’s at least double the amount of rice. We’re going to strain it off at the end anyway, so it doesn’t matter about that perfect ratio. Set that to high heat to bring it to a boil. While the rice is cooking, we’ll prepare our hardboiled eggs. To a pot of boiling water, add your eggs that are cold from the fridge. You want to slowly add them in, so that the water doesn’t crack the shell. My eggs are quite large, so I’m going to boil them for about 9 – 10 minutes, but if they’re a little bit smaller, you can pull them around 8 minutes. And this water is boiling quite vigorously, so I’m going to turn it down slightly so that it doesn’t crack the eggs. To your rice, add about 6 grams (1 tsp.) of salt, just to give it a little bit of flavor. The rice should probably take about 10 -15 minutes once it’s come up to a boil, but the perfect way to know that it’s done is give it a taste. When your rice gets to the stage that the water is almost completely boiled out, turn the heat down to medium-low. This will help just gently finish cooking the rice. My eggs are finished and I’m going to transfer them into a bowl with ice water. This is the best way to cool down your eggs and it helps you remove the shells easily. My rice is still a little bit too crunchy, and the water has really cooked down, so I’m going to add in a little bit more water just to finish off the cooking. And here’s my favorite way to peel a hard-boiled egg! Smack the rounder, bottom side of your egg with the bottom of a spoon until the shell cracks. Then peel away the shell, trying to pull away a little bit of that inner membrane with it. Get your spoon wet and slide it up the inside of the shell, again trying to get underneath that membrane. The spoon is naturally the shape of the egg, so it actually slides in really easily and you can spin it all the way around the egg to remove the shell. The eggs I’m using today are very fresh and notoriously hard to peel, but you can see just how cleanly the shell has come off, and if you’re using an egg that’s maybe a few days older, the shell will just slide off. Once all of the eggs have been peeled, chop them into roughly the same size pieces as either your beans, or your cheese – just so that you get even consistency throughout your salad. Strain off your rice into a colander, and then rinse it in some cold water. This helps cool it down quickly and makes sure that we aren’t harboring any bacteria. Once your rice is cooled, strain it off and make sure to get out all of that water. To a large bowl, add 15 ml (1 tbsp.) of lemon juice. You could also use apple cider vinegar, or even red wine vinegar here if you like. Next add in 115 grams (1/2 cup) of mayonnaise. Normally I’d season my dressing now, but because all of the things that we’re mixing into the salad have such big flavors, I’m going to wait until the end to see if it needs any adjustments. Add your cold rice to the bowl. Add in 150 grams (1 cup) of your favorite cheese, chopped. I’m using scamorza cheese. I love the smoky flavor it brings to the salad, but you can use any cheese you like; provalone, mozzarella, even Swiss cheese if you want! Then add in about 100 grams (3/4 cup) of your preferred ham. Whether it’s ham hock like I’m using, or diced ham, mortadella … Now add 80 grams (1/2 cup) of chopped mixed olives and 100 grams (1 cup) of a mixture of corn and peas. Add in 260 grams (1 1/2 cups), so one small jar of cannellini beans (optional). Next, in goes 25 grams (1/4 cup) of chopped capers and then add in one jar, 290 grams (about 1 cup) when you chop it down finely, of giardiniera. You can find giardiniera in most Italian supermarkets, and even in some regular supermarkets. But if you just can’t get your hands on it, any pickled vegetables will do. Finally, we’re going to add in our eggs and it’s time to mix it altogether. Make sure you’re stirring from the bottom to get that mayonnaise dressing. This will easily serve 4 – 6 people as a main dish, or 8 – 12 people as a side. It looks so pretty on any buffet table. Buon appetito! If you’re not eating this immediately, you want to be sure to store it in the fridge straight away, so that the rice is nice and cold. This prevents any bacteria from building, but make sure to eat the dish within 48 hours of making it. If you’re looking for another great side dish for a barbecue or a dinner, you have to try my mom’s "piselli e funghi". They are the best! If you liked this video, please hit the like button down below and while you’re there, make sure to subscribe because I come out with a new video every week! See you in the next video! ≽^•⩊•^≼