When I went to my in-laws the other day, they had a great rice salad. This is my spin on it. Use any veggies you have on hand and leftover rice. I almost always make brown rice, so this salad has a “deep” tone. That’s my culinary word, and I’m sticking to it!
The recipe is made with the veggies I had, and some basil pesto. I have lots of basil I’m trying to use, but if you don’t want to use pesto, just use extra virgin olive oil. A note about the pesto – I made a classic basil pesto, but I added some lemon zest and some calamata olives. It really has a lot of great flavor.
Garden Rice Salad
Ingredients
- Leftover rice
- Green and / or red peppers, diced
- Celery, diced
- Carrot, grated
- Black olives, chopped
- Tomato, chopped
- Granulated onion powder
- Basil pesto
- Zest and juice of one lemon
- Salt and pepper
- Hot pepper, optional
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Correct seasoning, add more lemon juice, more spice..........
- Other additions: grated parmesan, ground nuts, chopped artichoke hearts