Watermelon and Feta Salad

Now that summer is officially here (aka I turned on the air conditioning and Memorial Day is almost here) its time to discuss watermelon. (To people in the Southern Hemisphere, I'm sorry. Maybe bookmark this recipe and make this instead.)

Now don’t get me wrong, I love watermelon plain. Or with a squeeze of lime. Or juiced and added to a mojito. But I absolutely adore watermelon with something spicy. My mom used to make “Fire and Ice Salsa” which used watermelon in place of tomato. (This was years before the fruit salsa became super trendy. I know because people used to think she was crazy for making it until they tried it.)

Then I saw a recipe for watermelon salad. These days, its not so unique. But that doesn’t mean its not delicious. If you can resist crunchy cool watermelon with pickled red onions, salty feta crumbles, and the kick of jalapeno mellowed by a touch of mint there might be something wrong with you.

 

after cutting up the watermelon my camera died. I charged it for 5 minutes, but only got one picture out of it. I need to remember that iphones have cameras.

 

Just saying.

And if you’re bringing this over to a Memorial Day BBQ, get out your melon baller because you’re going to want to use the rind as the bowl. Trust me, after a few watermelon mojitos, you won’t want to have to remember to bring your serving bowl home. And watermelon balls (hehehe) are so stinkin’ cute.

So on this glorious 3 day weekend that I will be spending at work (where I guarantee it will be mind numbingly slow) eat some watermelon. And have a drink and float in the pool for me. But please wear your sunscreen. Don’t be like my dance instructor who thought the water would protect his pasty white skin from burning to a lobster color. Again. Skin cancer isn’t a good look.

Normally you would get a recipe right here, but WAIT there’s more! Now how much would you pay? I’m hoping its $23.10.

When I was but a wee young lass in the first weeks of my culinary school training, I went to New Orleans for SOS’s annual conference. Also on the trip were two girls who took the trip far more seriously than I. They never had to be woken up to get their butts to general session, nor were they out till 3 in the morning (if they were, they hid it well).

For the last two years, they’ve been writing a cookbook.

Which is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Its full of recipes for family meals served at some of the world’s best restaurants. To give you some perspective, the forward is by Ferran Adrià. There are recipes from Ad Hoc, WD-50, and The Fat Duck. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

I highly suggest you do the same.

Now have some salad.

Watermelon and Feta Salad
One of the reasons I love this salad is it kind of makes its own dressing. I leave the seeds in the jalapenos, but that’s because we like it spicy round these parts  (and even with the seeds its generally not very spicy (to us). That being said, we have friends who think black pepper is spicy and think this salad is crazy hot. If you don’t like spicy, leave out the jalapenos or seed them first. Leftover picked red onions are pretty much delicious on everything.

2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled seedless watermelon
1/2 recipe pickled red onions (recipe here)
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
2 finely diced jalapenos
Big pinch flaky sea salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 packed cups arugula
Optional garnish: edible flowers

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the olive oil, arugula and flowers (if using). Give it toss and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. The salt will pull some of the liquid out of the watermelon and give us the base for the dressing. Add the arugula, oil, and flowers and mix together. Check for seasoning and serve. The bulk of this salad will hold up for quite awhile, but the flowers tend to wilt fairly quickly.

Comments

[Jackie @ Domestic Fits]

This looks so good! I love the edible flowers, I've never used those. I just made watermelon ceviche that I blogged last summer and I was SO excited to seem them in the market again, I want to add them to everything.

[Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef]

This salad looks wonderful and I love the bowl idea.

Look forward to that cookbook too.. thanks for the info - hadn't heard of it before.

[Sydney @ The Crepes of Wrath]

I'm still waiting on watermelons around here, believe it or not, but when I get one, I'm making this! I love salty Feta and sweet watermelon together - great combo.

[Krista]

How fantastic!!! :-) I've never had this salad before, so you've introduced my (obviously) backward self to something new and delicious. :-) I wish I had read it yesterday when we still had summery weather. Today winter blew in with a vengeance and it is COLD. :-) You can bet I'm making this in summer though. :-)

[yummychunklet]

Wow. That sounds extremely refreshing in this heat right now!

[Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake]

Your salad looks so festive and colourful! Love how it looks and it sounds delicious too. :D

[Gluten Free Foods]

The foundation of gluten-free salads is typically vegetables, lettuces, or fruits that are naturally gluten-free. When making gluten-free salads, it is important to review the ingredient labels on any prepared foods, condiments, and seasonings used in salad preparation in order to ensure that gluten is not inadvertently added to the dish.