Five colours a day on your plate

Saturday evening was another salad dinner. We spent a beautiful day by the swimming pool, and came home late, so there was no time for cooking. But I did plan on making this salad one of these days and therefore had all the ingredients in my fridge.

It's very important to eat fruit and vegetables every day, and it is equally important that you eat them in different colours to get all the nutrients you need.
The star of this salad was corn salad, and in case you don't know it here's a bit of information I found serching the web.

Corn salad is a small, weedy-looking vegetable that grows in a basal rosette of round to spoon-shaped leaves up to 6" (15.2 cm) long. The leaves are tender, smooth, and slightly succulent.
Corn salad has a delicate, sweet, nutlike flavor and a juicy texture that seems to melt in the mouth. In tossed salads, corn salad complements stronger flavored greens like endive, chicory, cress, arugula and some of the more bitter lettuces. The tender leaves are delicious with crisp salad veggies like bell peppers, carrots and radishes. The cup-shaped leaves catch the salad dressing. Corn salad is a popular tossed salad ingredient in Europe, and becoming popular in trendy North American big city restaurants. Use corn salad in potato salads and omelets, too.

It is also good to know that melon is a good source of vitamin A, and since it is made 90% of water, it rehydrates the skin and keeps it young.
Peach, apart from helping you get a nice tan, contains potassium and therefore is useful in fighting cellulite.
Tomatoes are a major source of lycopene that will help repair the damage the sun causes on your skin (also found in carrots, red bell peppers, watermelons and papayas).

MIXED SALAD WITH FRUIT

*a head of lettuce
*a handful of arugula
*about 100 g corn salad
*1 small red onion
*6-8 cherry tomatoes
*1/4 melon
*1 peach

The measures are very approximate. Just put in what you have and toss everything together. Chop the melon, cut the tomatoes in half, slice the peach thinly. Season with salt, extra virgin olive oil and some nice balsamic vinegar.
I had a piece of focaccia Genovese with stracchino, too.
The combination of flavours was just fantastic. The bitterness of arugula was so beautifully complemented by corn salad and fruit.

My husband was totally surprised and kept repeating that the peach enhanced the flavour of all other ingredients. It's true, all the ingredients in this salad were so great together.

INSALATA MISTA CON SONGINO E FRUTTA

*un cespo di insalata riccia
*un mazzetto di rucola
*100 g circa di songino (valerianella)
*una piccola cipolla rossa
*pomodorini ciliegia
*1/4 di melone
*1 pesca
*sale, olio extra vergine d'oliva

Lavate e pulite la rucola, il songino e l'insalata (spezzate le foglie) e mescolate tutti i tipi di insalate in una ciotola.
Tagliate i pomodorini a metà, melone, pesca e cipolla a tocchettini e aggiungete alle insalate.
Prima di servire condite con il sale, olio e aceto balsamico o limone.


Con questa ricetta partecipo alla raccolta di Betty. Vi invito a visitare il suo blog, La mia dispensa, e di unirvi con le vostre ricette. RACCOLTA DI STAGIONE



MIJEŠANA SALATA S MATOVILCEM I VOĆEM

*1 manja glavica zelene salate po izboru
*svežanj rikule
*oko 100 g matovilca
*1 mala glavica crvenog luka
*rajčice
*1/4 dinje
*1 breskva

Operite, osušite i narežite zelenu salatu.
Operite i osušite rikulu i matovilac.
Tanko narežite luk, a rajčice narežite na kriške.
Narežite očišćenu dinju na komadiće, a breskvu na tanke ploškice.
Pomiješajte sve sastojke, začinite solju, maslinovim uljem i octom (preporučam balsamico) ili limunom.
Matovilac i voće doista odlično nadopunjuju gorkast okus rikule i čine ovu salatu nevjerojatno ukusnom.