Delicious, refreshing lunch.
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I've never though of adding watermelon and cheese together. Regardless, it's probably a delicious food combination. Especially because of the fresh mint taste.
It's a typical summer salad here in Turkey but I was always the same, I didn't think melon and cheese would complement each other but as I had all the 3 elements in the fridge fresh from the market I just tried it and love it π
I also put watermelon in a yoghurt and purslane salad a few days ago and that was great too π2 -
I do watermelon/feta/mint a lot too. Here it is as part of a salad buffet for a housewarming party.
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I just need to grab some fresh mint & make this over the weekend as I've got feta and watermelon already. Thanks for the idea!2
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@acpgee that all looks lovely π
@seltzermint555 I can believe that I've waited so long before making this. All those wasted summers past π4 -
It's a terrific salad to bring to a BBQ because if you leave the mint leaves whole, it doesn't look worse for wear sitting out in the sun for a few hours. Some recipes add olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar. I usually drizzle with a little olive oil.2
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If you need to stretch the ingredients you've got on hand, or prefer a more neutral taste, a little cubed cucumber goes well with this combination.4
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It's a terrific salad to bring to a BBQ because if you leave the mint leaves whole, it doesn't look worse for wear sitting out in the sun for a few hours. Some recipes add olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar. I usually drizzle with a little olive oil.
I know sometimes oil is added also pomegranate molasses (nar ekΕili) but I wanted to keep the calories as low as possible. I'm glad I did as it was perfect.
It's market day again tomorrow so I'll get another watermelon (this one was a 10 kilo monster and it's only lasted less than a week!) and I've plenty of white cheese and mint so this salad will be my lunch every day until melon season is over, in 3 months time π2 -
Looks all sorts of yum OP !1
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This sounds so good right now. I've had some version of this in a restaurant before and it's amazing.1
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Stumbled on another variation of the watermelon and cheese salad tonight. The hubby ordered it in an Italian restaurant and this version was watermelon, ricotta salata, fennel fronds (mostly on the bottom) and finely sliced chilli. Ricotta salata is a matured hard cheese typically grated over pasta a la Norma in Sicily. It's not like normal ricotta that has a cottage cheese texture. If you can't find ricotta salata locally, a young pecorino would be a good substitute. Or any young hard cheese with an acidic tang.
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Stumbled on another variation of the watermelon and cheese salad tonight. The hubby ordered it in an Italian restaurant and this version was watermelon, ricotta salata, fennel fronds (mostly on the bottom) and finely sliced chilli. Ricotta salata is a matured hard cheese typically grated over pasta a la Norma in Sicily. It's not like normal ricotta that has a cottage cheese texture. If you can't find ricotta salata locally, a young pecorino would be a good substitute. Or any young hard cheese with an acidic tang.
Ooh, that looks and sounds lovely π1 -
Used OP's suggestion of a drizzle of pomegranate molasses which is way better than my normal addition of a drizzle of olive oil. The pomegranate molasses adds complexity. My favourite version yet. This salad was layered, not mixed. A bed of watermelon cubes, some crumbled feta on top, a scatter of mint leaves, then a drizzle pomegranate molasses.
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Used OP's suggestion of a drizzle of pomegranate molasses which is way better than my normal addition of a drizzle of olive oil. The pomegranate molasses adds complexity. My favourite version yet. This salad was layered, not mixed. A bed of watermelon cubes, some crumbled feta on top, a scatter of mint leaves, then a drizzle pomegranate molasses.
Argh @acpgee, you've tempted me now to splash out on the extra calories for the nar ekΕili π±π0 -
We didn't much watermelon leftover but stretched it with a peach and a little cucumber. Added black pepper. The only thing I will do differently next time is to cool the peach before adding to salad, if you blanch or microwave the peach to peel it.
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We're going to a restaurant tonight near the Turkish grocer so maybe I can get a whole watermelon instead of those silly little plastic packets of cut up watermelon sold in supermarkets in the UK. If not, I am going to try this with halved green seedless grapes and cubes of cucumber that I've got in the fridge. I need to use up that open packet of feta. Might need to buy mint too, because the plant on my window sill has been cut back pretty severely lately.1
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We're going to a restaurant tonight near the Turkish grocer so maybe I can get a whole watermelon instead of those silly little plastic packets of cut up watermelon sold in supermarkets in the UK. If not, I am going to try this with halved green seedless grapes and cubes of cucumber that I've got in the fridge. I need to use up that open packet of feta. Might need to buy mint too, because the plant on my window sill has been cut back pretty severely lately.
Watermelon is so cheap here at the moment - I paid the equivalent of 14 pence/kilo the otger day for a huge 9.5 kilo beast π The only downside is finding the fridge space for it once it's been started on π€ I'm eating and drinking so much melon every day now π
Was it nice with the peaches? They're a reasonably good price at the moment so I might get some at the veg' market tomorrow. My husband won't eat them unpeeled because he doesn't like the skin texture but he can eat them peeled. I refuse to peel his bloody fruit for him π€£ Can you share your microwave method please? Then I can teach him how to do it π1 -
We're going to a restaurant tonight near the Turkish grocer so maybe I can get a whole watermelon instead of those silly little plastic packets of cut up watermelon sold in supermarkets in the UK. If not, I am going to try this with halved green seedless grapes and cubes of cucumber that I've got in the fridge. I need to use up that open packet of feta. Might need to buy mint too, because the plant on my window sill has been cut back pretty severely lately.
Donβt they sell whole watermelons in the UK routinely? That makes me sad. We have them in the US. Great big giant ones down to personal size ones a little bigger than an average size cantaloupe. The 4th of July is a huge watermelon picnic item here. I love this time of the year with the exotic melons tat are available. All the great fruits that are available actually. I bought a few pounds of Bing cherries yesterday on sale.Your recipes are amazing, thanks for posting them.2 -
Unfortunately in central London supermarkets fruit and veg is in little packets with totally unncessary plastic. Sigh.
For peeling peaches I think the blanching method works best. I would do the blanching and cooling steps for your whole batch of peaches at one time so you can just peel one when you want one.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-peel-peaches-2217611
But here is the microwave method I tried today.
https://cookiesandhostas.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/peeling-peaches/1 -
Unfortunately in central London supermarkets fruit and veg is in little packets with totally unncessary plastic. Sigh.
For peeling peaches I think the blanching method works best. I would do the blanching and cooling steps for your whole batch of peaches at one time so you can just peel one when you want one.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-peel-peaches-2217611
But here is the microwave method I tried today.
https://cookiesandhostas.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/peeling-peaches/
So just like tomatoes then? Simple enough, even for him π€£2 -
Hooray. I could buy a quarter of a gigantic watermelon from the Turkish greengrocer. They were so huge I think I would have struggled to even carry a whole one home.
Nonetheless tried to minimize required refrigerator space by breaking it down to cubes, removing rind and seeds and fitting snugly into large refrigerator boxes.
I bought a huge bunch of mint from the Turkish grocer too, so need to think of how to use that after the feta is gone. I have enough feta for two more servings of salad watermelon/feta/mint salad for the household. Maybe I can use the mint for some SE Asian salads?0 -
Hooray. I could buy a quarter of a gigantic watermelon from the Turkish greengrocer. They were so huge I think I would have struggled to even carry a whole one home.
Nonetheless tried to minimize required refrigerator space by breaking it down to cubes, removing rind and seeds and fitting snugly into large refrigerator boxes.
I bought a huge bunch of mint from the Turkish grocer too, so need to think of how to use that after the feta is gone. I have enough feta for two more servings of salad watermelon/feta/mint salad for the household. Maybe I can use the mint for some SE Asian salads?
If you have some natural yoghurt you can use that instead of feta in the salad or, I also make a melon, yoghurt & mint smoothie (just blitz it all in a food processor), it's delicious π1 -
Hooray. I could buy a quarter of a gigantic watermelon from the Turkish greengrocer. They were so huge I think I would have struggled to even carry a whole one home.
Nonetheless tried to minimize required refrigerator space by breaking it down to cubes, removing rind and seeds and fitting snugly into large refrigerator boxes.
I bought a huge bunch of mint from the Turkish grocer too, so need to think of how to use that after the feta is gone. I have enough feta for two more servings of salad watermelon/feta/mint salad for the household. Maybe I can use the mint for some SE Asian salads?
According to a book on herbs I have mint is good in teas, jellies, and sauces. Add leaves to cold fruits, ice creams, and salads. Use in chicken dishes, stir into tabbouleh (love!), potatoes, or peas (love this too). Blend with yogurt or serve with cucumber slices or potato salad. Of course, you can make hot or cold mint tea! If you can get squares of feta, just wrapping a leave around a square (kind you can get at middle Eastern stores) of feta is a great snack.2 -
Hooray. I could buy a quarter of a gigantic watermelon from the Turkish greengrocer. They were so huge I think I would have struggled to even carry a whole one home.
Nonetheless tried to minimize required refrigerator space by breaking it down to cubes, removing rind and seeds and fitting snugly into large refrigerator boxes.
I bought a huge bunch of mint from the Turkish grocer too, so need to think of how to use that after the feta is gone. I have enough feta for two more servings of salad watermelon/feta/mint salad for the household. Maybe I can use the mint for some SE Asian salads?
According to a book on herbs I have mint is good in teas, jellies, and sauces. Add leaves to cold fruits, ice creams, and salads. Use in chicken dishes, stir into tabbouleh (love!), potatoes, or peas (love this too). Blend with yogurt or serve with cucumber slices or potato salad. Of course, you can make hot or cold mint tea! If you can get squares of feta, just wrapping a leave around a square (kind you can get at middle Eastern stores) of feta is a great snack.
I'm putting fresh mint in absolutely everything at the moment. It's plentiful at the veg' market at the moment (probably for the next 2 months too). I've chopped and frozen so many bunches for the freezer so we can have it year round. Same for fresh parsley and purslane, one of my freezers is full of bags of chopped green stuff π1 -
I've now tried the watermelon/feta/mint combination with balsamic vinegar instead of pomegranate molasses. I think I actually prefer pomegranate molasses, which is also cheaper.
Thanks for the tip about freezing the mint. I will try chopping and freezing in ice cube trays which I find to be a handy portion size for other things like frozen ginger. I move to ziplock bags once the cubes are frozen.2 -
You can definitely buy whole/half/quarter watermelons in the supermarkets where I live (south east England). I am going to try this recipe very soon (put some pomegranate molasses on the shopping order already, and have some mint in the garden ). Another really nice supper salad is a mixture of peas, edamame, crumbled feta, mint, dressed with olive oil, white wine vinegar and lemon juice, salt and pepper. 2
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Pipsqueak1965 wrote: Β»You can definitely buy whole/half/quarter watermelons in the supermarkets where I live (south east England). I am going to try this recipe very soon (put some pomegranate molasses on the shopping order already, and have some mint in the garden ). Another really nice supper salad is a mixture of peas, edamame, crumbled feta, mint, dressed with olive oil, white wine vinegar and lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Mmmm, peas! I miss them sooo much π We can only get frozen peas and they are like bullets, no matter how long I cook them for so I've given up buying them π’0 -
Try my mom's method for cooking frozen peas to go with asian food. Buy the smallest youngest peas you can find. Sautee a clove of pressed, grated or chopped garlic in a little butter on medium heat. When the garlic starts to colour toss in the frozen peas and a large pinch of salt. Serve when warmed through. Peas should remain bright green. We had this last night as a side.
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It might be hard to find watermelon in central London that is not cute up and packaged in little plastic boxes, but smaller whole Canary melons are available. Not as pretty as watermelon but good too.
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Yet another variation. We ran out of feta, but I googled and found a version of this salad with white cheddar that I am trying out.
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