Summertime Salad

Now that Labor Day is here (happy Labor Day, by the way), do you find yourself desperately clinging to summer as it slips by?  I know I do.  So to celebrate the holiday and the lack of school/work, and, of course, to pretend that summer is still in full swing, I made a salad.  A watermelon salad.  Because what says summer more than watermelon?

My sister made a version of this salad a few years ago when she had a dinner party at her apartment.  For the most part, I really only remember it being delicious and involving watermelon and tomatoes.  So I went with that vague memory and came up with something that seemed to work well. 

I used red wine vinegar here, but you could easily substitute balsamic instead.  In fact, if I had any balsamic, I would probably use that.  But sadly, DC doesn’t seem to have any kosher balsamic vinegar, so I’m still waiting on a care package to replace my stash (hint hint, Mom).

Also, I like the combination of feta cheese and red wine vinegar, but I've seen watermelon salad recipes out there that use goat cheese, so I highly recommend experimenting in that direction as well.

Watermelon Tomato Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 small watermelon (I’d buy the “personal” size)

6 small-medium heirloom tomatoes (preferably not red)

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

4 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 red onion, diced

2 tablespoons fresh basil, sliced thinly

2 tablespoons fresh mint, sliced thinly

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and vinegar, along with a bit of salt and pepper.*  Toss in the diced onion and let it sit there while you prepare the rest of the salad.

2. Cut up your watermelon and tomatoes.  I like using yellow and orange heirloom tomatoes, so it provides a pretty color combination with the red watermelon.   If you only have red tomatoes on hand, it’s ok, it will still taste (and look) fantastic!  Put all the cut up fruit into a large bowl.

3. Add the herbs and cheese to the large bowl of fruit.  Toss with the onions and vinaigrette. Adjust the salt and pepper, if needed.

4. Add the almonds just before serving so they don’t get soggy.

Serve cold or room temperature, and enjoy the rest of your summer!

*My preference for vinaigrettes tends to err on the side of more acidic, so I normally do a 1:1 ratio of vinegar to oil.  I think the technically correct proportion is more like 1:3, so feel free to adjust as you like.  Just know that you’ve been warned.