Backyard Watermelon Salad

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My friend Dragon had a party on Saturday night. It was chic and involved roasted pig, so how could it be anything but fab? I did NOT know what to make and thus was forced to procrastinate all day, waiting for inspiration to strike me. I was drawn to the watermelon (seedless) which had been sitting on my counter for a week. I asked the Cookery Encyclopedia of Google for watermelon salad recipes and came across a quite a few. Sadly, I lacked ingredients for the interesting ones. I also lacked time, thanks to stalling most of the day.

I strolled into my backyard potager to see what was available (jalepenos and mint). I trolled the vegetable drawer in my fridge (lime and a half a red onion). What I threw together was actually rather good, although I was winging it and cannot speak to the quantities exactly. Furthermore, watermelon gives up fluid, so as this was sitting I needed to drain it several times and re - season. I would absolutely make this again, but I might cup up the melon and let it drain in a colander for a little while, perhaps salted.

Backyard Watermelon Salad
Makes a lot

One medium sized seedless watermelon, rind cut off, cut into 1 to 1.5 inch chunks (probably a good 10 cups of melon)
One lime
Two jalapeno peppers, diced fine
One handful of mint, chopped fine
500gm feta cheese
One half red onion, sliced in half, then into very thing slices
Balsamic vinegar (I used Balsamic with Lemon from my dear friend Cartier)
Fruity olive oil
Sea salt

Put watermelon in a large bowl. Squeeze an entire lime over the melon, then toss with jalapenos and mint. Break up feta cheese into very small chunks and toss thoroughly into salad with thinly sliced onion. Once everything is well mixed, add oh, a quarter to a half cup of vinegar, then a good slug of olive oil. Throw some salt on. Mix it up. Taste and adjust dressing ingredients.

As I noted above, I let this sit for a while and it gave off a lot of liquid. I drained off the liquid once or twice and added more vinegar, salt, and a little more olive oil. More lime juice and jalepeno would have worked, too.

Leftovers were tasty. The next day I drained the excess liquid, tossed it up again, and added a little slug of vinegar.