One of my favorite summertime foods has always been watermelon. The crisp, refreshing taste is perfect at any time during those really hot days. And, let's be honest, it's fun to spit out the pits. While planning the menu for a weekend out on Long Island, I decided I wanted to make a watermelon salad. Before I really got to thinking about what ingredients to include in this salad, watermelon salads started popping up everywhere. Bar Artisanal (goat feta, tapenade), Josie's (beets, arugula, walnuts), L'ecole (the restaurant at FCI had tomatoes and dill). Other versions included honey, bleu cheese or kalamata olives. This only added to my excitement and interest in taking the flavors and ingredients and trying to create my own. Now obviously I wasn't re-inventing the wheel, but I did surprisingly come up with a few ideas that not only worked very well together but are apparently classic versions of a summer watermelon salad. I decided to add cucumber, fresh mint, feta cheese, red onion, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I really wanted the watermelon to be the star of the salad. Although tomatoes or beets would add great flavor and color, they would take attention away from the watermelon. The measurements, ingredients and procedure are below.
For 6 servings:
- 5 pounds watermelon, cubed
- 2 large cucumbers cubed
- 1 half red onion, emincer (cut into thin slices)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 4 oz crumbled feta cheese
- 2 Balsamic vinegar
- 3 Extra-virgin Olive Oil
- Salt and pepper
Really the only important step in the making of this salad is to allow the watermelon to drain in a colander for around 10 min. Since the watermelon with release a lot of juice, if you put it directly into a bowl, you'll wind up with soup in the bottom of the bowl. Adding salt at this step may be helpful in extracting some of the excess moisture. After that, combine onions, cucumber, mint and watermelon in a bowl. Sprinkle with cheese, add vinegar and olive oil and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Remember, it's a salad so just eyeball it and if you want more or less of an ingredient, just do it.
I've always liked when fruits like watermelon or mango are paired with savory foods such as mango salsa or mango in sushi. I always seem to put apples or pears in salads, citrus with fish. Here's another really interesting use of watermelon from Serious Eats:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/07/serious-salsa-watermelon-pico-de-gallo-spicy.html
The salad was paired with a grilled shrimp taco.
- 1 1/2 lbs shrimp
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 limes, cut in half
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 to 3 cups finely shredded green cabbage
- 12 6 inch tortillas
- green tomatillo sauce
- De-vein, peel and clean shrimp if needed. Pre-heat grill. In a bowl, combine garlic and butter.
- Whisk together milk, mayonnaise, sour cream and cumin. Set aside or refrigerate.
- Brush the shrimp with garlic butter and place on grill. Cook, about 4 minutes on each side or until shrimp are opaque. (Shrimp cook very quickly so be careful not to overcook them. When shrimp are overcooked they become very tough. Make sure that the shrimp are not curled too tightly, this is a good way to tell if they are overcooked.) Meanwhile, add limes face down onto grill.
- Brush the tortillas with a little bit of oil and grill on both sides.
- To serve, add shrimp to tortillas and add cabbage, sour cream sauce, tomatillo sauce and some grilled lime juice.
Usually I don't like sour cream on anything. But when mixed with the mayo and milk, it was really light, cool and almost refreshing. The crunch from the cabbage, the acidity of the lime and the smokiness of the grilled shrimp worked great together. Definitely will be making these both again soon.
