So Long, Pasta; Hello, Rice

Strolling Old Town Pasadena one warm afternoon, I stopped for lunch at what billed itself as an Italian restaurant. Footsore, sweaty and just about shopped out, I was ready for a chilled glass of crisp white wine and something to eat, something vibrant, but something that wouldn’t sit heavily.

My spirits soared when I saw seafood rice salad on the menu. At last, I thought, someone is catching on. It’s too bad rice salads aren’t more common in this country because they are everything that pasta salads are not. Rice keeps a firm bite when cold noodles have lost their sensuous slip. Each grain remains distinct and separate while macaroni has turned into a clumpy mess. Because rice salads take little dressing, they are light and clean on the palate, allowing the flavors of the ingredients to show through. Perfect for hot-weather dining, they are brightly flavored and aromatic, yet cool and satisfying.

At least, real rice salads are. What I was served that day was a lukewarm, soupy mush more resembling a poorly made risotto than a real rice salad. Various bits of cooked seafood were clumped around the plate’s edge. Obviously, we are not as evolved as I thought. If you want a rice salad, you’re going to have to make it yourself. Fortunately, it’s not a trick. In fact, it’s barely even a recipe; it’s more like a concept. Mix cooled cooked rice with assorted vegetables, meats or seafoods and toss it with fresh herbs and a tangy vinaigrette. That’s it.

This loose framework allows plenty of room for variation. In fact, in Italy, a rice salad fills much the same role as a casserole does here. It’s an ingenious way to recycle bits and pieces of leftovers into something delicious.

My favorite rice salad is made from fish and shellfish. The rice’s mild nuttiness is a perfect foil for the delicate sweetness of fresh seafood. Shellfish is easiest to use, partly because it resists flaking when you mix the salad and because it comes in such a convenient size. And actually, the smaller the bite, the better. I like calamari and love shrimp in a salad. Clams are great, especially the firm little ones, but I find mussels too big and flabby. An exception--and don’t laugh--is canned smoked mussels. Use them sparingly, though.

Choose only two or three kinds of seafood. What you’re trying to do here is season the rice with the seafood, not vice versa. The more sparing you are with the fish, the cleaner the flavors will be.

The dressing--a simple vinaigrette, usually--should be handled with a similarly light hand. In fact, while most oil-and-vinegar dressings have a ratio of three, even four, parts oil to vinegar or lemon juice, I like a 2-1 ratio for rice salads. You want just enough oil to keep the rice separate but not so much that it becomes overpowering. It’s the vinegar or lemon juice that will give the bright lift that you want.

After all, if you had wanted something clumsy and heavy, you would have made pasta salad.

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SEAFOOD RICE SALAD

Serves 8

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Salt

3/4 pound shrimp, shelled

3/4 pound calamari, cleaned and sliced

2 cups rice

1/2 pound green beans

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons minced red onion

1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

1/2 cup fresh basil, torn

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

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Bring large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Place shrimp in large strainer and dip in boiling water. Cook just until firm, about 1 minute. Drain on kitchen towel. Repeat with calamari, cooking just until tubes begin to curl, about 30 seconds. Drain on towel.

Add rice to boiling water and cook until soft but still a little chewy, though certainly not chalky, about 15 minutes.

In separate pan, boil green beans in lightly salted water just until bright green and slightly soft, about 5 minutes. Drain, pat dry and cut into 1-inch lengths.

When rice is done, drain in colander and spread on towel to cool and dry. Lightly salt and stir to mix.

In small mixing bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, onion, red pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon salt and whisk thoroughly to combine.

In large mixing bowl, combine rice, cooked seafood, green beans and herbs. Add dressing and stir, making sure rice is well coated. Season with more salt, if necessary.

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Food stylist: Norman Stewart; dish from Maison et Cafe, Los Angeles