Watermelon, Mint & Feta Salad

You know you have a good combo when it goes something like this:

Sweet:      juicy watermelon
Salty:       feta cheese
Fresh:      mint
Crunch:   raw red onion, cucumbers

With the heat lately, I was forced to make something refreshing & herbaceous. Timing is perfect with Memorial Day weekend and all. This is a great “something-to-bring-to-your-friend’s-BBQ-when-they’ve-invited-you-for-the-5th-time-and-you-always-bring-the-same-salad”… type of salad.

It can be served plain or with a little drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.

I was playing around with different ingredients to add in for color and texture. You could really add a myriad of ingredients… whatever floats your boat.

Feta cheese is sometimes sold already crumbled, but I prefer good feta cheese that you crumble yourself. I like really getting into the recipe. I have always associated the word “fillet” with removing any flesh of any ingredient from its skin. That being said, I start by “filleting” the flesh of the watermelon from the harder skin.

Then I cut “planks” that are approximately an inch thick. Next, I just roughly cube them. Add them to a bowl immediately to utilize the delicious juice.

For the red onion, I use a mandolin in order to get the slices super thin. My favorite is the benriner. (see link below) You really can use this for many different applications and you don’t need the fancy/expensive stuff.

You can use it to slice the cucumbers thin if you want to go for that type of  presentation. Or, you can just cube them too. For the mint, you can chiffonade them – which is stacking each leaf and slicing “ribbons” out of them. Conversely, you can stack them and cut thicker pieces and then turn them and cut little “confetti” type squares which look very beautiful.

Crumble the feta and GENTLY toss everything with your fingertips. You don’t want to manhandle this salad – it’s like a delicate piece of paper mache. (that you’ll devour later)

Another great way to serve this is to combine it all and tear Bibb / butter head lettuce pieces into it. Either way you choose – let it sit for a moment and let the flavors meld and definitely, definitely – eat with a spoon.

Please share your Memorial day weekend ideas with me and post them in the comments below.