If you're having a gathering and want to skip the pasta and potato salads you served all summer, think rice.

What's to like about rice salads is they are a breeze to make. All you need to do is cook the rice, chop a few vegetables and make a vinaigrette. Why vinaigrette? Because you won't use as much and you don't want drown those grains in a creamy dressing. A rice salad should be light tasting, with the grains separated not clumped together.

You can use white or brown rice for a rice salad, but don't stop there. At most stores you will find plenty of rice varieties to choose from, including some that are aromatic.

Jasmine rice is fragrant and floral and a good match for any variety of chopped vegetable and light vinaigrette. Basmati rice, popular in Indian and Middle Eastern dishes, has a nutty nuance and also is great paired with vegetables and even fruits. Both jasmine and basmati are long-grain varieties, meaning the grain is long and narrow. They both cook just like white rice. Because the grain is slender, it makes them especially suitable for salad. These varieties are also available in the convenient 10-minute, boil-in-the-bag option.