Sweet Pea Prosciutto Rice Salad

Sweet Pea Prosciutto Rice Salad

Cool rice salads make for the perfect summer side dishes or main meals. They’re simple, easy to make, and easily adaptable to suit your personal preferences. This summery sweet pea prosciutto rice salad is light, healthy and delicious. Serve at your next family picnic or BBQ as a main meal or as a refreshing side dish.

This recipe calls for arborio rice, which when cooked ‘al dente’ has a slight bite, giving the salad some texture. However, feel free to substitute arborio with different rice grains-they have a variety of flavours and textures, which can add a ton of flavour in a rice salad. Also, it is essential that you use a good quality extra virgin olive oil, since the overall flavour of the rice itself really depends on the oil, spices and Parmesan.
Save yourself some time and energy by preparing this salad in two easy steps. Boil the rice in evening and store overnight in the fridge. The following day, simply add the thawed peas, chopped prosciutto and remaining ingredients. This sweet pea prosciutto salad is best served at room temperature. Personalize this recipe by adding any of your favourite ingredients, such as; grilled zucchini, eggplant, or red peppers, grilled chicken, green or black olives, roasted pine nuts or pepitas, feta or goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, flaked tuna, fresh herbs, such as basil, thyme, or parsley,  fresh lemon juice and/or lemon zest.

Sweet Pea Prosciutto Rice Salad

Sweet Pea Prosciutto Rice Salad

2013-09-05
: Serves 4
: 3-5 min
: 20-25 min

Cool rice salads make for the perfect summer side dishes or main meals. They’re simple, easy to make, and easily adaptable to suit your personal preferences. This summery sweet pea prosciutto rice salad is light, healthy and delicious. Serve at your next family picnic or BBQ as a main meal or as a refreshing side dish. This recipe […]

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Sweet Pea Prosciutto Rice Salad
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5
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Ingredients
    6 cups water
  • 2 cups arborio rice
  • 1 cup frozen sweet peas
  • 4 slices prosciutto (cooked ham) chicken or turkey
  • 2-3 tbs. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1-2 tbs. fresh mint, finely minced
  • 2-3 tbs. good quality extra-virgin olive oil
Directions

Bring the water to boil in a large pot. Once boiling, add the rice to the pot and cook for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, remove the peas from the freezer and chop the prosciutto.

Sweet Pea Prosciutto Rice Salad

After 15 minutes, add the peas to the boiling water with the rice and continue to cook for about 5 more minutes until just al dente. The rice should be cooked on the outside and have a slight bite on the inside.

Drain the rice and peas and rinse with cold water, which stops the cooking process. Although you should never rinse rice or pasta-it washes away the starches which help the sauce stick to it, in this case it renders the rice salad much fluffier and lighter. Set the rice and peas aside until slightly cooled. Once cooled, add the remaining ingredients and mix until the rice is well coated and the ingredients are combined. Store the leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Sweet Pea Prosciutto Rice Salad

24 thoughts on “Sweet Pea Prosciutto Rice Salad”

  • Lauren Harmon 10 years ago

    This looks absolutely delicious, the perfect addition to my summer recipes I love to prepare! 🙂

  • Fiona Naughton 10 years ago

    Oh how delicious does this look? I’ve never actually tried a rice salad before, I need to give it a go 🙂

  • Interesting! I want to try a veggie version of this rice salad! 🙂

  • sharon 10 years ago

    That looks really good for a hot day. Great for a picnic lunch or on the patio. Would go great with some cold sandwiches or all by itself. Have to try this recipe.

  • Ourfamilyworld 10 years ago

    What a great way to add veggies. My kids would love this dish as they love proscuitto.

  • Penny @ pennyspassion.blogspot 10 years ago

    Yum! Love all the add in ingredients. You could use this base recipe and then change it up for a totally different taste.

  • Jennifer Juro 10 years ago

    This looks and sounds amazing to eat for dinner!! My husband
    would love this recipe as well.

  • CourtneyLynne Storms 10 years ago

    Omg this looks absolutely delicious!!! I will have to pin this so I can try it out at one of my many bbq’s I’m hosting this summer!! Too yummy!

  • Jennifer Stewart 10 years ago

    What a fresh Spring salad that I can eat throughout the Summer! I love peas and the addition of prosciutto for some protein!

  • Looks so quick and easy to make. And it looks super delicious too – which is always key haha.

  • This is an awesome dinner idea. You could do so much with this recipe by adding different ingredients!

  • Michelle F. 10 years ago

    That looks so good. I love the combination of peas and prosciutto.

  • Megan Elford 10 years ago

    It looks so delicious! I love that there are so many ways you can change it up and personalize it to your tastes.

  • Alli Smith 10 years ago

    Cold salads are my go-to meals during the summer. Add some pasta and I’m in heaven. Orzo is a favorite of mine.

  • Terri Lynn Grothe 10 years ago

    I love risotto- I need all of your recipes, every one of them

  • Mums make lists 11 years ago

    Yummy – I do love risotto but it is a bit of a fag isn’t it? And frozen peas have been a must this year as the fresh ones have for some reason been really rubbish. Thanks so much for sharing at the Friday Baby Shower, Alice @ Mums Make Lists x

    • Lisa @bitesforbabies 11 years ago

      I actually don’t mind making risottos but once in a while a quicker recipe works for me 😉

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