This lovely quick salad is not actually from Sicily, but uses Sicilian Lemon Balsamic. It does however, use ingredients one would expect to see on a menu in the south of Italy.
Ingredients: Serves 4
1 1/2 c rice of your choice (I use Basmati)
1/4 c pine nuts
1/3 c drained and chopped oil packed sun-dried tomatoes
2 T dried capers
1/3 c chopped red onion (about 1/2 small onion)
1 6-ounce can tuna, drained
1 2-ounce tin anchovies drained rinsed and minced
1/4 c Liquid Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil (medium robust works well here)
3 T Liquid Gold Sicilian Lemon White Balsamic
Fresh ground pepper
1/4 c thin-sliced basil (or mint) leaves
Method:
Cook rice according to directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Put the rice in a large glass or stainless steel bowl.
Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, toast the pine nuts over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Stir the toasted pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, onion, tuna and anchovies into the rice. Toss the rice salad with the olive oil, Sicilian Lemon Balsamic vinegar, pepper and basil.
*I have thrown in a handful of LG sun-baked black olives as a variation.
**This recipe has been adapted from the 'sicilian' rice salad, found in the Food and Wine cookbook.