I love a salad you can make a meal out of, and this rice salad will appeal to both vegetarians and meat-eaters. It’s simple, as things should be in August. Just the crisp, tangy ingredients of a Greek salad combined with cold, cooked rice. If you want extra protein, grilled salmon or chicken are flavorful additions. I had this salad three times over the course of the weekend: once with warmed pita bread for lunch, another time with grilled boneless chicken breasts for dinner, and finally, standing in front of the fridge, fork in hand, as a late-night nibble. One of the nice things about being an empty nester is that you can do things like that – there’s nobody else around to be considered. We haven’t started drinking out of milk cartons…yet, but there are some advantages to being on our own again.
Greek Rice Salad
Prep time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpeas
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, roasted
- 2 cup cucumbers, diced
- ½ cup scallions, minced
- ¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- ½ cup black olives, pitted, sliced
- zest and juice of a lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint, shredded
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Roast cherry tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Set aside and allow to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine rice, tomatoes, chickpeas, cucumber, scallions, feta and olives.
- Add lemon juice and zest, olive oil, mint, garlic, salt and pepper.
- Cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes and serve.
