Delia Smith’s Camargue red rice salad pairs nutty red rice from France, dressed warm in balsamic and grain mustard, with shallots, shredded rocket, spring onions and crumbled feta. Give it a little over 2 hours, nearly all of it the rice cooking and cooling, and you’ll have enough for 4.
It comes from her first How to Cook book (1998), where Camargue red rice heads her list of specialist rices as one that shines in salads and next to other strong flavours. She meant this one for eating outdoors on a warm, sunny day, so it’s made to sit happily on a table in the garden.
Leaving the rice to go cold before the onions and rocket are stirred in keeps them crisp, and feta added at the very end stays in salty white crumbs. What you get is chewy, earthy grains, a sharp dressing, peppery rocket and creamy, salty cheese.
Delia Smith’s Camargue Red Rice Salad with Feta
Course: SaladsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings1
hour15
minutes55
minutes420
kcalFrom How to Cook Book One (1998), page 206: Camargue red rice cooked in a frying pan, dressed while warm, then finished with shallots, rocket, spring onions and feta. These ingredients serve 4.
Ingredients
- For the salad:
275ml (10fl oz) Camargue red rice, measured in a jug
1 teaspoon salt
570ml (1 pint) boiling water
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
50g (2oz) rocket leaves, finely shredded
3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped, green ends included
200g (7oz) feta cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the dressing:
1 small clove garlic, crushed
½ level teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon grain mustard
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Cook: Put the rice and the teaspoon of salt in a 25.5cm (10in) frying pan, pour in the boiling water and bring it back to a simmer. Cover with the lid and cook very gently for 40 minutes.
- Rest: Turn off the heat, keep the lid on and leave the rice for another 15 minutes to finish.
- Dressing: Meanwhile, crush the garlic with the salt in a pestle and mortar until it turns to a purée. Work in the mustard, then the vinegar and some pepper, and whisk in the olive oil with a small whisk.
- Dress: Tip the warm rice into a serving dish, pour the dressing over, mix well and taste for seasoning.
- Cool: Leave it until completely cold, about 1 hour.
- Finish: Stir in the shallots, rocket and spring onions, then crumble the feta all over just before serving.
Notes
- To shred the rocket, roll a handful of leaves together and slice them thinly with a sharp knife.
- Keep the feta in the fridge until the last minute, as cold feta crumbles more cleanly.
- Rice salads need care: get the rice cold within about an hour, keep the salad in the fridge and eat it within a day, as the Food Standards Agency advises.
FAQs
What is Camargue red rice?
An unmilled short-grain rice from the south of France, brownish-red in colour. Delia rates it above the red rices grown in America, and she finds it earthy and nutty, with a firm grain and a slight chew.
You’ll find it in the rice aisle of larger supermarkets. Brown basmati is the nearest swap, which is my own call, and her brown basmati rice salad cooks it with exactly the same 275ml of rice, 570ml of water and 40 minutes.
Why is my red rice a little sticky?
It’s meant to be. Camargue is a short-grain rice, and Delia explains that it cooks very slightly sticky rather than separate and fluffy.
So don’t rinse it after cooking or try to fork it apart. Mixing in the dressing while the rice is warm loosens the grains enough for a salad.
Why leave the lid on for 15 minutes at the end?
So the grains can finish cooking in their own steam once the heat is off. Lifting the lid lets that steam out, which is why she’s clear that it stays on.
Check the rice only when the 15 minutes are up: it should be tender with a little chew and no water left in the pan. If there’s still liquid, give it 5 more minutes with the lid on, which is my own fix.
Can I serve red rice hot?
Yes, as her Very Red Rice, from the same book. She created it for Comic Relief, hence the name, and cooks the same 275ml of Camargue rice with a red pepper and a red onion fried in oil and butter.
It takes less water than the salad, 425ml instead of 570ml, and gets the same 40 minutes plus 15 off the heat. She serves it with spring onions and watercress beside oven-baked pork chops in a maple barbecue sauce.
Is it vegetarian?
Yes, as long as the feta is, and Delia reprinted the salad in her Vegetarian Collection (2002) with the same amounts. The recipe itself needs no changes.
Some feta is made with animal rennet, so check the label if you’re cooking for vegetarians. Many brands say on the pack that they suit vegetarians.
