Watermelon Garden Salad
Late summer has always been one of my favorite times of year (besides fall of course). Ripe peaches, juicy tomatoes, mountains of peppers and sweet corn adorn farmers markets everywhere. I won’t even touch cantaloupe until the golden hour of summer. And then there are the watermelons the size of boulders. No watermelon is sweeter than a local specimen, sounding hollow when knocked carefully with a decent sized ground spot.
For this fresh salad I am using a ripe, juicy watermelon that was an incredibly reprieve from a humid heatwave that is hitting Wester NY now. I’m pairing the melon with a log of my almond based, chevre inspired cheese, “Into the Garden.”
“Into the Garden” I think is one of my underrated cheeses simply because people don’t really like goats cheese, however the unique texture of the cheese is layered with a bright citrusy pop of pink peppercorns and rounded out with dried herbs and flowers. It’s an amazing accompaniment to salads, sandwiches and chickpea omelets.
Watermelon and “Into the Garden” come together to create a beautiful dynamic of rich, and herbaceous with juicy, sweet and mouthwatering. The olive oil is there to bring it all together, the mint a classic touch to any watermelon salad.
Not only is this watermelon garden salad a feast for the eyes and the tongue, it’s also incredibly simple and easy to put together. Once you have the ingredients, the salad comes together in minutes. Cut the watermelon and slice the cheese ahead of time and you have the perfect salad for entertaining or a quick weeknight snack to pair with the a glass of crisp white wine or iced green tea.
Enjoy this watermelon salad for an appetizer to an amazing late summer meal.
Watermelon Garden Salad
Ali Lawrence | 8/29/21
- prep time: 10 minutes
- cook time: none
- total time: 10 minutes
Servings: 2 small salads
Ingredients:
- 1 5.6 oz log "Into the Garden"
- 1/4 large watermelon
- Olive Oil
- salt and pepper
- 4-5 mint leaves
Instructions:
- Cut watermelon into attractive shapes. This could be beautifully cubed or cut into thin triangles as I did here. This is just for presentation, so have fun with it.
- Make sure "Into the Garden" is cold before slicing the log into thin rounds about 1/4 inch thick.
- On a beautiful plate arrange layer the watermelon, cheese, watermelon, cheese etc. I used 3 pieces of each but make the salad as big as you want it to be.
- Drizzle olive oil on top of the salad, crack some fresh black over the melon and hit it with a sprinkle of coarse salt.
- Tear, or thinly slice the mint and sprinkle over top of the salad.
Enjoy right away with a gorgeous late summer meal.