There are tons of recipes for watermelon feta salad, but the one I composed last night for my husband’s birthday party is particularly good. Even one of our guests who hates both watermelon and cucumbers cleaned her plate!
I used cucumber in addition to the watermelon and feta, lots of fresh mint from my herb garden, and soaked my thinly sliced red onions in ice water for 30 minutes to mellow them out. I made a simple lemon vinaigrette adding a little honey, instead of using the wine vinegar or balsamic that a lot recipes suggest. Although many recipes claim that you can make this salad hours ahead of time, I found that the watermelon will release a lot of juice, so I suggest making it right before you plan to serve it.
So in honor of my husband’s birthday, I’d like to share my recipe for a very refreshing summer salad with you.
- ½ red onion
- 1 small seedless watermelon (the Sugar Baby variety is usually very good)
- 2 Kirby cucumbers
- ⅓ cup fresh mint leaves, plus more for garnish
- 8-ounce package of feta cheese
- 3 lemons, juiced
- 2 teaspoons honey
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 5 ounces spring mix/spinach combo (Earthbound Farm Organic Half & Half is our favorite)
- Thinly slice your red onion, put it in a small bowl, and cover with ice water. I usually throw in a few ice cubes too. Let the onion mellow for 30 minutes.
- Cut your watermelon in half. Using a melon baller, scoop out melon balls and place them in a large bowl. You should have at least 5 cups. If you are using a Sugar Baby, it should be virtually seedless, but if you do see any black seeds, pick them out. Also, if your melon baller has two sizes of scoops, I suggest using the larger one.
- Peel your cucumbers, slice them lengthwise into quarters, and cut the quarters into ¼-inch slices. You can remove the cucumber seeds if they bother you, but I left them in. Place the cut cucumbers in the bowl with the watermelon balls.
- Crumble the feta over the watermelon and cucumber. Add your mint leaves, either left whole or torn in half if they are small, or sliced into thin green ribbons if they are large. Mix everything together gently.
- Make your vinaigrette with the lemon juice, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Right before serving, put some of your spring mix/spinach combo on each salad plate. Check to see if there is a lot of juice from the watermelon at the bottom of the bowl, and toss out about half of it. Drain the red onions and add them to the top of your salad, pour on the vinaigrette, and mix gently again. Garnish with a little extra fresh mint, taste for seasoning, and place a healthy amount over the greens on each plate.
