I bought a watermelon not long ago with plans to slice and serve it at my son’s first birthday party. Then, in the hustle of last-minute party preparations, I completely forgot about it.
We made a little dent in it over the next couple of days, but we were still left with the better part of a watermelon taking up valuable refrigerator real estate.
This didn’t sit well with Paul, who called it the worst food purchase ever.
So I made a watermelon salad and served it to him for dinner.
This is one of those incredibly simple salads that I feel a little silly writing about because there’s hardly even a recipe. When you get right down to it, it’s not much more than a classic combination of fruit and cheese.
But I love the contrast of crisp, sweet melon and creamy, salty cheese and if you find yourself with an excess of watermelon, this salad is a great way to use it up. I just might need to buy another so we can make it again.
A note about watermelon: the seedless kind are more convenient but the old-fashioned, seeded watermelon are generally considered tastier. I'd stick with the latter if you can find them, although either type will work. Watermelon seeds are concentrated in strips near the middle of the fruit. For this salad, I think the easiest approach is to dice up the portion of the fruit with no seeds and save the seedy bits for a spitting contest outside. I added a crunchy cucumber and a handful of herbs to the mix but otherwise kept this super simple — just a drizzle of olive oil and a few grinds of pepper before serving — but I could imagine taking this salad in lots of different directions. You could add a splash of lime juice, pile the salad on top of an avocado half and sprinkle with esplette pepper. Or you could pretty up a handful of peppery arugula with a scoop of this salad and a little good balsamic. Combine the watermelon, feta and cucumber in a serving bowl and toss gently.
Add the fresh herbs, drizzle everything with the olive oil and finish with a few grinds of black pepper.
Serve.
Leave a Reply