I know it may be a little early in the season for watermelon where you are, or it may even be getting on for winter but I got a baby watermelon in my organic veg box this week. Look how cute it is.
Look, I put it next to a lemon for you so you can see how small it is. Watermelon is one of the ingredients in my favourite summer salad and it is definitely feeling a lot like summer here so this is what I made with it.
Watermelon, Feta & Mint Salad with Pistachio & Parsley
Serves 2, vegetarian, gluten-free. Adapted from Nigella Lawson
- 1/4 small red onion, very finely sliced
- the juice of half a lemon
- 400 g watermelon, rind & most of the seeds removed then cut into approx. 4 cm triangles
- 100g Greek Feta cheese
- a handful of fresh parsley leaves, left whole
- 5 or 6 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- 8 black or purple olives, halved & stoned
- black pepper
- extra virgen olive oil
- a handful of shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
- lemon wedges to serve
Put the finely sliced red onions in a small bowl and cover with the lemon juice. Leave to soak while you make the rest of the salad. This makes the flavour less harsh and turns them a pretty magenta colour.
Place the watermelon triangles in a beautifully random arrangement on your serving dish/plates. Cut or break the feta into similar sized pieces as the watermelon and scatter them amongst the watermelon. Tear off sprigs/leaves of parsley and do the same.
Tip the bright pink onions and their juices over the salad, add the olives, drizzle with a little olive oil and top with the chopped pistachios and a grinding of black pepper. Serve with extra wedges of lemon if you like.
This is me sending some much needed sunshine in the form of this beautiful salad to all the people in the UK celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee in the cold and rain.
This is my 93-year-old Grandad at a Jubilee garden party yesterday. He is wearing ski gloves, a shawl and a blanket over his legs. This is the 4th of June by the way, a typically English summer’s day!!