Summer Jeweled rice from Tenuta san carlo

This post is a paid partnership with Tenuta San Carlo.

Land of pine tree and wild beach and organic rice

Back in May, I went on a visit to Tenuta San Carlo, to witness the rather mesmerizing process of rice plantation. Tenuta San Carlo is a massive 480 hectare estate in Maremma, an astonishingly beautiful land in the south of Tuscany and just north of Lazio, with a wild coast and a breathtaking pine tree forest. It’s a part of Tuscany that doesn’t look like your idea of classic Tuscany, it’s wilder, more raw, more untouched.

This is a family story, which makes it also a very Italian story. In the early 1900s a family from the north east of Italy — where rice is grown — decides to invest in this land in Tuscany. They soon realize as this land is next to the sea, with marsh lands and clay soil, it would be ideal to cultivate rice. This is the beginning of Tenuta San Carlo rice production, now Ariane, the great grand daughter of Achille who first invested in this land, takes care of it.

Since she has taken over, Tenuta San Carlo has obtained the organic certification. They take special care to respect the land and the environment and to create the best quality product by rotating the crops and searching for the best quality seeds. Together with Elena, who takes care of the communication of Tenuta San Carlo, we joined Ariane on a day of rice plantation. Although I later bombarded Ariane about the methods of plantation that they use, I’d rather not get into the detail because I’m afraid of making a mistake.

What we witnessed was a more cutting edge method, with consists in broadcasting rice seeds directly into field with a cover crop (something you don’t harvest, it’s supposed to go back to the soil to enrich it and solve some weeds problem). The field is then flooded and left for the rice seeds and the cover crop to ferment for a couple of days before proceeding to the next stage.

stay, play, unwind

At the moment Tenuta San Carlo produces four rice products, each are named after the forefathers — and mother of the land. Achille, the great-grandfather is the name of Organic Brown Carnaroli Rice. Olga the grandmother is Organic Carnaroli Rice, Ennio, the grand father is Organic Ribe Rice and Marcello, the father is name of Organic Brown Ribe Rice. A loving tribute, complete with stunning packaging to the elders of this land.

I stayed at one of the apartments of the agriturismo. You can stay at this incredible land, get on a bike, and ride in the pine tree all the way to beach. The beach is wild and untouched, and since the land is part of the parco regionale della maremma (national park, so protected), untouched it must remain. There are not enough words to describe this land. I hope the photos help.

There are horses and huge Maremmana cows on the land too, and so much to do, so much to learn. There are often yoga retreats held there, and there’s endless potentials to do a lot more. My favorite activity was to get out right after the dawn and watch the sunrise through the pine trees and on the wheat field (there are other crops too on the land), or watch the sunsets through pine trees. Sometimes with my camera in my hand, most times without it.

A bit pokè, a bit summer jeweled rice

This recipe I must admit, is inspired by many pokè bowl deliveries at home. The more intensely I’ve been working on my cookbook (finally it seems it’s over), the more I found myself ordering take-out. I wanted to make a salad, or a cold dish, vibrant and inviting, easy to make, with whatever you have at hand. The trick is to season the rice very well.

In this version I use two types of rice, white and brown ribe. Each rice has a separate dressing. You don’t have to do this. I wanted to play with the different textures and colors. You can substitute the pomegranate molasses with a cream of balsamic vinegar if you want to. All the ingredients of the toppings are changeable too. The idea is to have a sweet fruit, strawberries, raspberries, mango, pine apple, you name it, and something acidic like tomatoes. Nuts, so change pistachios if you want to. Herbs, of course, and peas, which are easy and every-available.

A nice, tangy soft cheese works really well with these ingredients and binds them together, but you can leave it out if you want to keep it vegan. A nice soft boiled eggs also works well. Of course you can go further and add salmon, or tuna, but I like to keep this fresh, fruity and vegetarian. I also refuse to call this dish a pokè bowl by principle. To me it’s much more of summer jeweled rice.

Makes 2 portions

• 120g organic ribe rice (Ennio di Tenuta San Carlo)

• 90g organic brown ribe rice (Marcello di Tenuta San Carlo)

• salt for boiling the rice

• a few leaves of your favorite salad, possibly a colorful lettuce

• a handful of peas, lightly cooked

• A little aromatic herbs, such as chives, or mint, or tarragon

• 2 soft boiled eggs, halved (optional)

• soft (goat) cheese such as caprino or robiola (optional)

• some strawberries, or raspberries, halved

• a handful of yellow tomatoes (or regular cherry tomatoes, or any other small tomatoes), halved

• a handful of pistachios, crushed

• extra salt for sprinkling

  dressing for the brown rice

• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

• juice of a small lemon (or half a large one)

• 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper or chilly flakes

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• salt to taste

  dressing for the white rice

• 1 tsp honey

• 1 tsp mustard

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar

• salt to taste

Bring to small pots of water to boil, add salt and boil each rice according to the package instruction (I found that I like to boil the brown rice 10 minutes more).

In the meantime, add all of the ingredients of each dressing to a separate jam jar and shake well until combined.

When the rice is cooked, drain it and pass it under cold water for several minutes until it’s cold. Add each rice to a separate bowl and pour the dressing of each rice on it and mix well. Set asside.

To serve, set a few lettuce leaves on each plate. Then add a couple of spoonfuls of each rice, and top it with tomatoes, strawberries/raspberries, pistachios, peas, cheese, egg halves and herbs in the end. Sprinkle the topping with some salt.