This elegant watermelon and feta salad with sweet summer melons, creamy Persian feta and fresh aromatic mint is the perfect support to act for an elegant dinner.
This Persian watermelon and feta salad graced our Christmas table in 2016 and comes from “The Healthy Chef” with a few changes to suit my families tastes and to make it more festive.
The changes we made to Persian Watermelon and Feta Salad
- Watermelon – we cut our in stars just cause it was Christmas
- Mint – we just used lots and lots of mint and left out the parsley
- Persian feta – we used creamy Persian feta over the labneh
- We left out the onions (the girls hate them) and blackberries (at $12 for a tiny punnet I thought I would give them a miss)
- Replaced the zesty lemon for aromatic lime.
- Added some rocket (arugula) to bulk it up as there was 20 of us for lunch.
- Added some sweet pomegranate arils and crunchy pistachios for Christmas colour.
You will need:
How to make this salad
1CUT THE MELON
Wash the outside of the melon, lay it flat on a chopping board and cut off both ends Cut it in half to make two manageable pieces.
Then stand each piece up and with a sharp knife cut off the rind. Start from the top down to the bottom. Keep slicing until you start to see the pink flesh.
Lay the peeled watermelon flat and cut into bite-sized cubes or triangles and add to your bowl.
To make stars, cut the watermelon into round slices then use a star-shaped cookie cutter. Keep the good stars for decorating on top and save the “bits” and not so good stars for ‘inside’ the salad. You will also need to allow a further 15-20 minutes as it was quite time-consuming.
WASH & TRIM WATERMELON SLICE WATERMELON INTO TRIANGLES
2PREPARE REMAINING INGREDIENTS
Wash your rocket (arugula) in a colander under cold running water. Remove any damaged or wilted leaves. Then either pat dry with a towel or spin dry using a salad spinner. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Remove the arils from your pomegranate and transfer to your bow, reserve 2 tablespoons to use as a garnish. Transfer to your bowl.
Wash your mint, shake and pat dry then pick the leaves from the stems.
BREAK POMEGRANATE APART REMOVE ARILS FROM MEMBRANE WASH & DRY YOUR ROCKET/ARUGULA CHOP MINT LEAVES
3ASSEMBLE THE SALAD
Add the mint leaves, pistachios, olive oil and lime juice to your bowl, season with salt and pepper then very gently toss the salad until well combined.
Arrange the salad on a salad platter and garnish with the reserved mint leaves, pomegranate arils and extra pistachio nuts.
ADD ALL INGREDIENTS TO A BOWL SEASON & TOSS GENTLY TO COMBINE WITH TRIANGLES WITH STARS
Serving ideas
This is an incredible tasting summer salad, which you can serve with anything from barbecued meat, chicken or seafood. We served ours with our Christmas turkey, you could also try it with:
NOTE
This salad is made to be eaten and enjoyed on the day, the arugula and mint will discolour and the melon will soften if kept too long in the fridge.
Some more festive salad recipes to try:
(Times are an estimate and will depend on your skill level)
Equipment
- Salad Spinner
- Sharp chef's knife
Ingredients
- 800 grams watermelon (cold, without skin)
- 250 grams Persian or goats feta 1
- 100 grams baby rocket (arugula)
- 1 pomegranate
- 1 ½ cup mint leaves (reserve ½ cup to use as a garnish)
- ⅓ cup pistachio nuts, roughly chopped (reserve 1 tablespoon to use as a garnish)
- 3 tbsps olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice (approximately 2 heavy limes)
Instructions
- Wash your rocket in a colander under cold running water, remove any damaged or wilted leaves. Shake and then either pat dry with a towel or spin dry using a salad spinner. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Slice the watermelon into thin bite-sized cubes or triangles (refer to the detailed instructions in the post). Transfer to your bowl.
- Remove the arils from your pomegranate and transfer to your bow, reserve 2 tablespoons to garnish. Transfer to your bowl.
- Add the mint leaves, pistachios, olive oil and lime juice to your bowl, season with salt and pepper then very gently toss the salad until well combined.
- Arrange the salad on a salad platter and garnish with the reserved mint leaves, pomegranate arils and pistachio nuts.
- Serve and Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- You will find Persian feta in the deli section of your supermarket or with the other packaged cheeses in the refrigrated section. You can replace it with Goats Cheese if you are unable to find it.
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