A Salad That Screams Summer

A yellow doll watermelon makes a colorful companion for summer tomatoes.
metrocurean photo

Ludlum's, the farm stand a few miles down the road here at the beach in North Carolina, almost always has a nice crop of yellow doll watermelons this time of year. The miniature melons are super sweet and a gorgeous shade of yellow. Kids really love them because, well, watermelons are supposed to be red.

Mid-June is also when the first local tomatoes, grown out of the sandy coastal soil, have fattened up and turned flaming red. They're piled on our counter beside my Shenandoah Growers basil plant, which made the trip with me from DC.

This cast of characters brings me to one of my favorite summer salads: a simple composition of chopped tomatoes, watermelon, basil and a sprinkling of crumbled feta cheese. Balsamic vinegar, salt, or a little olive oil is optional.

Using a yellow melon makes it even more beautiful. You could of course reverse the color combo with yellow (or green or purple) heirloom tomatoes and red watermelon.

For an easy hors d'oeuvre, skewer the fruits, basil and a firm feta on wooden sticks.

Comments

Anonymous said…
this looks delish! can't wait to try it! we just harvested a melon that I didn't know was yellow inside from our home garden here in DC . it's quite juicy! my eight year old will be so excited for this recipe -- thanks for this post!
8/18/2010 10:01 AM
Amanda said…
As a kid, I used to think those yellow doll watermelons were the coolest. Actually, I still do. =)

Glad you like the post and let me know if you try the salad!
8/18/2010 11:24 AM
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