Rice salad with mixed vegetables and sardines

Easy, light and delicious Summer salad to serve as a light main meal or as a side dish next to fish dishes or even to accompany meat and poultry when the sardines are omitted

Slightly adapted from a recipe of Dina Nikolaou

a prominent Head Cook and restaurateur in Athens and Paris

Ingredients (for 6 people):
500gr. of parboiled rice (I used Uncle Ben's classic)
2 carrots, grated
1/2 cup of green bell peppers, cut in small cubes
1/2 cup of Florina red pepper, roughly chopped
1 cup of peas (fresh if in season or frozen), boiled
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and thinly sliced
1/2 cup of flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup of dill, finely snipped
1 large lemon, the juice and the zest (unwaxed)
3-4 of shallots, thinly sliced (I used Spring onions, finely chopped)
6 tinned sardine fillets in brine, rinsed well and cut in small pieces
1/2 cup of olive oil
salt
pepper

Method:
Boil the rice in plenty of salted water and take off the heat two minutes before the time suggested on the packet. Transfer into a colander and drain.

Heat the oil in a wide, shallow frying pan on medium heat and sauté the shallots (or the Spring onions), the green pepper, the carrots and the peas. Stir with a wooden spatula and sauté for about 3-4 minutes until the vegetables are softened.

Add the rice in the pan and continue stirring until the rice is well coated by the oil, add the Florina pepper and the sardines and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for another 3 minutes, gently stirring with the spatula. The vegetables should be softened but still slightly crunchy.

Take the pan off the heat and add the olives. Sprinkle with the parsley, the dill and the lemon zest. Drizzle with the lemon juice, gently stir and serve.