Rice Salad with Eggs and Green Beans

It's been too hot to cook, so I've been relying on salads at dinner time.

This one, with eggs and rice and corn, was a truly complete meal. We ate almost all of it in one sitting, and I took the leftovers for lunch the next day. That is the sign of a good salad.

A note about the rice: Usually I make this salad with brown rice, but I had spent the early evening puttering in the garden so to get this salad on the table in a timely manner, I used white jasmati rice – an organic rice from Texas that my local independent grocery store carries. It has a great flavor, and I had dinner on the table in under 45 minutes.

Rice Salad with Eggs and Green Beans
1 red pepper
1/2 cup onion, sliced in rings
2 cups cooked rice
4 oz (large handful) green beans
1/2 cup corn (frozen is fine)
2 eggs
1 small avocado
butter lettuce
1 tbsp capers
6 olives, sliced

Dressing:
1  clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp yogurt
1/2 tsp dijon

Cut the red pepper in half. Remove the seeds and membranes. Place cut-side down in a small roasting pan. Add the onion rings. Sprinkle the onion with a little olive oil, then cook them under a broiler for 5-6 minutes until the pepper starts to blacken. Stir the onion a couple of times so it turns golden, not black. Put the pepper halves in a pot and let them steam gently. Cut the onion rings up and stir them into the rice. Put the rice on a large platter.

When the peppers are cool enough to touch, scrape off the skin (as much as you can) and cut them into thin strips.

Pierce the eggs with a pin and put them in a pan of boiling, salted water for 10 minutes. Drain and refresh in ice water. When cool enough to touch, peel off the shells and cut the eggs in quarters.

Cook the green beans in a little boiling water for 2 minutes, then add the corn and cook another 2 minutes. Drain and put in a bowl with the red pepper strips.

Stir together the washed and torn lettuce leaves with the peeled and diced avocado. Pile them on the rice.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Put about half into the bowl with the green beans and toss gently. Pile this on top of the salad.

Decorate the platter with the eggs, olives and capers.

Serve the extra dressing on the side.

Serves 3-4