I love a good salad in every season. It's a fact. I can eat it as a side dish, or as main dish, combining different vegetables and colours.

How important is variety for your palate?

For me, variety is one of the founding value in the kitchen. For this reason I change my salad preferences all the time. I experiment with different veggie and protein combinations, and condiments. Healthy and delicious, just like I'm striving to make all my meals!

This salad recipe is a recent addition to my favourites. During the WildFit challenge (more about it in my previous article) I committed to eat more greens while avoiding grains and sweet vegetables, including tomatoes. Now, can you imagine an Italian veggie lover who cannot eat tomatoes and carrots. I didn't think I was able to do it!

Fo sure it wasn't easy to motivate myself. I mean, tomatoes don't even have that many calories, why should i not eat them? But the challenge forced me to search variety in other directions, and to explore all the greens I could find in the market/supermarket. So I tried Gourd for the first time. Bitter gourd at first. Can you believe I tried to eat it raw? I challenge you to do it if you have never tried. LOL. The only way to eat that is to marinate it with salt and water and then cook it, but I didn't know. Luckily Winter Gourd is a much more versatile solution (very similar to the Italian "cucuzza") and an easy addition to salads as a substitute for cucumber.

I hope you'll enjoy this salad combination, with its 3 main components:

1. the greens (Gourd is combined with coral lettuce and green capsicum - because green pepper has lowest amount of sugar, compared to other colours);

2. the mediterranean flavours (red onion & oregano, evo and vinegar);

3. the nuts (pecan in particular, also because of their low sugar content).

Try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients (4 servings)

• 1 coral lettuce

• 1 big capsicum

• 300 gr winter gourd

• 1 medium onion

• 60 gr pecan

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Apple cider vinegar

• Himalayan salt to taste

EASY RECIPE!

1. Wash carefully all the veggies and cut in thin stripes. Chop the red onion into very small pieces. Combine all of them in a bowl.

2. Beat the condiments in a little bowl (I used 3 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbps vinegar, 1 tbsp oregano, 1/2 tsp salt) and then pour on top of the salad.

3. Chop the pecan and sprinkle on top of the salad. Serve fresh and crispy.