These days most great cooks and so-called “chefs” talk about eating seasonally and absolutely fresh. What a great idea! Nothing tastes better than a carrot just pulled and rinsed, or a tomato ripened in the warm summer sun. But let’s be honest. It’s not really practical to think you can eat like that all year long, unless you are a great gardener, or unless you can afford to buy asparagus, raspberries and fennel at the health food store. (Which, as a college student, I cannot; which is why I am writing this). I live to eat healthy food, and I am always looking for ways to be even healthier. I get really excited about eating seasonally and fresh and all that, but I also have a life!
Well, so what is seasonal in March, besides Irish beer and chocolate bunnies? And what is affordable, besides asparagus and fennel?
If I have held your interest long enough for you to read this far, I would bet that you might like to try my favorite brown rice salad. It’s a cold salad that has excellent flavor, great texture and just enough variety to make it interesting. It is worth the extra effort – and money – you will spend to obtain the ingredients you may not have. Go ahead and try it!
Brown Rice Salad
2 c. uncooked brown rice – cooked and chilled
1 c. Feta cheese
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
1 medium tomato, diced
1 handful of olives, sliced
¼ to ½ cup red onions, small dice
To taste – Italian Salad Dressing
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and serve the same day. This salad does not really get better with time, but it will keep for a day or two. So make a smaller batch if you can’t eat this much at once! The proportions are approximate, really. If you’re not good with estimating, stay close to my measurements. If you like to explore new territory…then have fun!
Please let me know how you like it!
that sounds delicious… I have to try that out next week. I’ll let ya know how it turns out. I wanna visit you!
So I made this salad a couple days ago and we totally loved it. I am definitely going to make it again soon. The only thing… the red onion that I used was very strong tasting and kinda took the taste away from all the other good things so I am thinking I will leave it out next time. Thanks for the great recipe!
Yeah. I worked at a restaurant this last year, where we’d get fresh beets, micros, salad greens, tomatoes, mushrooms…from our own farm, year round. It was nice but expensive.
Johnroy
Suz:
I’ve been just waiting for an excuse to make this salad…finally found it when I had a friend over for baked sole, olivata and baguette, and this brown rice salad.
GREAT recipe! Only thing I changed (of course I would) was the italian dressing. I’m not much of a salad dressing eater (usually stick to oil and vinegar) so I didn’t have anything on hand. So I just put some olive oil, basalmic vinegar, rice wine vinegar, garlic salt, italian seasonings, and black pepper in, instead.
Also, to moisture I put in a few tablespoons of plain yogurt…not only did it provide a good consistency to the salad, it also picked up and spread the feta cheese flavor, allowing me to use less feta and get the same result (affordability…of course).
Thanks and keep the recipes (and thoughts) coming. You might enjoy this post on fodd over at my blog, Mere Orthodoxy, as well: http://mereorthodoxy.com/?p=1315
Hello Hebert!
I am so glad you used my recipe! I think pairing it with sole sounds perfect! And I’m sure the yogurt was a nice compliment to the salad as well.
I didn’t sign up to Mere O. to reply, but I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on feasting and fasting. And it warmed my heart to see you use our Sunday morning Dutch Baby to exemplify. And maybe since you put my link on there I should put up the recipe…? Oh and great photo…it really captures the magnificence of what the mere egg can do! Bravo!
Suz:
Yes, please do put up the Dutch Baby recipe sometime. I’ve seen more than a few on the internet, but the Patten recipe, being my introduction to the thing, remains my favorite.