insalata di riso/farro/orzo

Insalata di riso = rice salad is a dish that many Italian coffee bars offer for lunch together with their panini and tramezzini and other ready to eat lunch items. Usually made with a white rice especially made for this dish not found in the USA but easily adaptable to either farro or orzo, but even black or red rice all of which are readily available and can be more healthy grain or grainlike ingredients. A "chicco" is a single grain in Italian. We always use whole wheat orzo if we go that route which in this rendition of the standard dish we took. But orzo would also have been great.

bob searched the web in Italian to find a recipe in Italian hoping it would be more authentic, and this one seemed like it was a good start. With a little addition of cannellini to boost the protein content. The original recipe was full of gram units but this is America here. We don't do grams. And its title indicated no fuss, quick results. We had some leftover zucchini in the fridge, and always have canned tuna on hand, so this find ended our search. We are always looking for new ways to use zucchini and don't incorporate canned tuna enough in our cuisine. Win win here.

We were surprised at how tasty this turned out. bob ate 3 helpings to finish up the rest that Ani left after her 2 helpings. So it is worth remembering, even sharing. What do you think? You won't know until you give it a try.

ingredients

1 c  whole wheat orzo  (or farro or red or black rice)
2 or 3 small zucchini, cubed (saute‛ in olive oil till softened)
1  5 oz can tuna packed in oil
1 15.5 oz can cannellini beans (bob addition)
extra virgin olive oil as needed
1 lemon (zest and juice)
parsley to taste (optional) [we were out of parsley so used some fresh basil and mint]
salt and pepper to taste
a touch of pepperoncino to taste

instructions

  1. Cook the orzo, whatever, in advance and cool. Follow the package instructions.
  2. Prep the zucchini, chopping up into small "cubes" (kitchen cubes, not mathematically true!).
  3. Lightly saute them in a bit of olive oil. Set aside.
  4. Prep the leafy addins of choice.
  5. Open the can of beans and drain them. Maybe even rinse. Depends on your preference.
  6. Open the can of tuna fish. Break up the tuna into small pieces.
  7. Zest the lemon and squeeze out the juice.
  8. When ready, combine all this stuff with the spices.
  9. Let sit a bit to let everything percolate.

notes

  1. Giallozafferano website blog recipe: insalata di riso con zucchine e tonno pronta in solo 20 minuti (Rice salad with zucchini and tuna ready in just 20 minutes).
  2. Insalata di riso Google search.Check out the image search. There are so many possible variations of this classic Italian dish.
  3. Illustrations available.
insalatadichicchi.htm: 7-aug-2026 [what, ME cook? © 1984 dr bob enterprises]