I might make a colourful, tasty cornucopia of a rice salad more than any other dish come the sunny months. It’s almost impossible not to have some store-cupboard ingredients and vegetables lurking in the fridge at home that make this a possibility at any moment.
As soon as the season allows, I’ll swap in ripe tomatoes, grilled peppers and green beans. Here we’ve gone for a swanky fresh seafood and fish spring version over our more common, beloved tinned tuna.
Serves 4
garlic 2 cloves
sea salt and black pepper
fresh red chillies 2
red wine vinegar 3 tbsp
clams 400g
mussels 400g
fresh peas 150g (300g in pods)
fresh small broad beans 150g (300g in pods)
courgettes 2 small (200g)
white wine 100ml
plaice fillet 300g – or other white fish
short grain risotto rice 250g
salted anchovies 6 fillets
black olives 50g
capers 20g
parsley 1 small bunch (25g), roughly chopped
basil 1 small bunch (25g), roughly chopped
celery heart 50g piece, finely sliced
olive oil
Crush 1 clove of garlic with a pinch of salt and add it to a large salad bowl. Chop the chillies. In a cup mix 2 tablespoons of good wine vinegar with 1 of water. Place a heavy pan over a high heat. In a tablespoon of oil, add first the chilli, then clams, mussels and lastly vinegar. Very quickly place the lid on top. Cook, shaking from time to time, until all the shells are open. Remove from the heat. Take the meat from the shells and place in the large salad bowl, covering with their chilli liquid.
Pod the peas and broad beans, and dice the courgettes into ½cm pieces. Bring a pot of water to the boil with the other garlic. Boil the peas and beans for 3 minutes until soft, remove them with a slotted spoon to the salad bowl. Salt the water and cook the courgettes for 3 minutes before placing them also into the building salad bowl.
Add the wine to the same pot of water and turn to a bare simmer. Poach the fish for about 3 minutes, depending on thickness, until it will just flake. Remove from the pot with the spoon.
Top up the level of the water if necessary and boil the rice for the time stated on the packet. Mine takes 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, flake the fish into the warm vegetables, tear in the anchovies, and add olives, capers, roughly chopped herbs and finely sliced celery.
When the rice is cooked, drain well and stir into the seafood and vegetable-bejewelled salad bowl. Add a generous amount of olive oil and check the seasoning. I may add another tablespoon of vinegar – it’s best tangy. Eat when cooled a little but still tepid.
Joe Trivelli is co-head chef at the River Cafe, London
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