3 days ago
An Italian-inspired rice salad tweaks tradition for today's busy cooks
When I first came across Italian rice salads, I was listening to the radio. On 'The Splendid Table,' my friend and food journalist Russ Parsons was talking about them to cookbook author and chef Rolando Beramendi, and I was captivated.
On the show and in his 2017 book, 'Autentico,' Beramendi tells the story of a woman he worked with in Turin: Contessa Rosetta Clara Cavalli d'Olivola. (How fun is that to say, preferably with an Italian accent?) She told him that in the 1960s, when she began making these salads in the summer instead of pasta dishes, friends and family started asking for them, and the idea spread. She would cook Carnaroli rice, a high-starch variety typically used in risotto, in a generous amount of water like you would pasta, then let it cool and tossed it with dressing and vegetables. Not just chunks of any old vegetables: ones in season, naturally, but just as important was how small she cut them.
