Monday, May 4, 2015

Fast Food For Hot Days, Watermelon Feta Salad With Balsamic Glaze.

   The last few days up here in Sonoma we've been enjoying marine layers (fog) every morning, mild daytime temperatures, and then chilly evenings. However, a couple of days before that we had some scorchers and the temperatures were up into the 90's. That's when the watermelons started to call my name. Normally, I don't buy a lot of watermelons. The last thing I want to deal with during the course of a hot sweaty day is being a watermelon wrangler. Then I saw them. Mini watermelons, or at least as mini as a watermelon can get.


   I thought I'd try something I'd read about, yet had never made, a watermelon and feta salad. How simple is that? How fast is that? How not heating up the kitchen on a hot, hot day is that? It was perfect. I just finished chemo two weeks ago and am starting to get my cooking energy back again, also my appetite. The one thing chemo is not, is an appetite stimulant for more reasons than I can say. But now, food is starting to look good again and strange cravings are starting to kick in, so I'm trying to eat what appeals to me. In this case, it's watermelon.
  
   So I tucked my melon, which was the size of a small head, under my arm, and headed off to turn it into lunch. What I found out was there are a LOT of watermelon salad recipes out there. Some call for olives, some call for red onions, I was looking for something super, super simple, which is what I found.The recipe is courtesy of Epicurious, and it's one of the easiest things ever. Ideal for someone like me getting back to eating.
 

Watermelon Feta Salad With Balsamic Glaze


Here's What You Need:
1 small watermelon,  8 cups cubed
7 oz feta cheese crumbled
15 oz field greens or baby arugala
2 Tbs balsamic glaze
a few mint leaves finely chopped

Here's What To Do: 
Slice the watermelon.


Trim off the rind. Now, this can be made into a delicious pickle, but not today, that's for another day.


Cut the watermelon into cubes.


Put the cubes into a bowl and set them aside.


Place the greens on a platter, and top them with the watermelon cubes.


Crumble the feta cheese over the watermelon cubes.


Tear a few mint leaves and sprinkle them over the watermelon and feta cheese.


Drizzle with 2 or 3 Tbs of balsamic glaze *
*How to make balsamic glaze.
Put 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar in a small pan and heat it until it boils and then simmer until the vinegar is reduced. This should take about 10 minutes or so. When it starts to reduce, it's done.


Give it a few turns of a pepper mill and you're done. Serve it up! Sweet, salty, and juicy this salad is a real winner and perfect for all your Summer entertaining.

    Make this and serve it right away, as this is not one to keep sitting around. Fortunately it comes together so quickly you can get it on the table super fast. Coming up next, I'm still waiting on those fresh garbanzos to arrive. In the mean time, fresh spring vegetables take an Indian twist. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

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