***SITE UNDER RECONSTRUCTION***
Don’t you just love this time of the year when the spring vegetables start coming in? I sure do, and I try to take advantage of them as much as I can.
Fresh spring peas are a beauty to withhold. They taste nothing at all like the ones in the can. Frozen peas are a suitable substitute if you don’t have a fresh supply readily available in your home garden or local farmers market.
What’s not to love about fresh spring asparagus. We are harvesting from our small patch for the second season this year. The flavor of garden to table asparagus is incomparable. But, if you don’t have your own asparagus patch, certainly buy it locally if you can. I always prefer stalks about the size of my middle finger as I think the flavor is better than in those pencil-thin stalks.
Hubby loves his smoker, and I try to take advantage of that as often as I can as well. His smoked salmon is amazingly delicious, and it freezes quite well so I often have that available. You can easily substitute store-bought smoked salmon. This salad works equally as well with any white-flesh smoked fish such as trout.
This is always a main dish for us either at lunch or dinner. As the weather starts to warm, its so nice to have it available in the frig for a quick meal. Plus, it’s a great way to use up some of that leftover rice.
The vegetable amounts and kinds are easily varied to suit your tastes, but I encourage you to use that fresh asparagus and those fresh sweet peas if you can get them at all.
Ingredients
Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salad
- 2 cups prepared Riceland Gold Perfected Rice
- 1 cup small, diagnonal slices fresh asparagus
- 1 cup thinly shredded carrots
- 1 cup fresh or thawed sweet peas
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup diced green or yellow bell pepper
- 1/4 cup chiffonade of basil or minced flat-leaf parsley
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese, optional
- Cherry tomatoes, halved, optional
- Kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette
- Whisk all together and toss with the salmon and orzo.
Salad
- Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add asparagus pieces; cook 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove asparagus from water with tongs or a slotted spoon, reserving water in pan. Plunge asparagus into ice water; drain and set aside.
- Repeat with shredded carrots.
- Break fish into chunks. Combine fish, rice, diced vegetables, feta and basil or parsley in a large bowl; toss gently with the Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette to coat.
- Chill well before serving.
- At serving, garnish with cherry tomatoes, additional basil or parsley. Additional lemon juice may be sprinkled on top, if desired.
#letsbreakbread
