Housewarming Watermelon, Fetta and Olive Salad

I remember the first time I made this salad years ago for a housewarming party.  It was so good that some of the guests (no names) ended up slurping the juice out of the platter that the salad was served in (no manners!).

I'd spent ages trying to find recipes to serve at my party, and this watermelon and feta salad was from Nigella Lawson, as seen in the April 2002 issue of delicious magazine (yes, that's how long ago was).  I think this dish was one of the highlights food-wise, along with some rice paper rolls that I bought from the restaurant up the road...

Anyway, I was at the grocer last weekend and saw some good-looking watermelon and this salad came to mind again.  I wasn't sure of the other ingredients, but thank goodness for mobile internet (and 3 bars of reception inside Norton St Grocer).

Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad
serves 6-8

Ingredients
1 small red onion
juice of 2-3 limes
1.5 kg sweet, ripe watermelon
250g feta cheese
bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
bunch fresh mint, chopped
3–4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
100g pitted black olives
black pepper

Method
1. Peel and halve the red onion and cut into very fine half-moons and put in a small bowl with the lime juice - the onions will turn a brilliant pink.
2. Remove the rind and pips from the watermelon, and cut into approximately 4cm triangular chunks.  Cut the feta into similar sized pieces and put them both into a large, wide shallow bowl. Add parsley to the bowl along with the chopped mint.
3. Pour the onions and their juice over the salad in the bowl, add the oil and olives, then using your hands toss the salad very gently so that the feta and melon don’t lose their shape. Add a good grinding of black pepper and taste to see whether the dressing needs more lime.  Serve.

Recipe adapted from delicious (April 2002)

Unfortunately, the limes were not very good, so I used bottled lime juice.  I also used Kalamata olives that were already pitted - such a timesaver.  The feta (fetta?) was a new brand I found and it was very soft, the perfect texture for this salad.

I couldn't really bring myself to use my hands to mix this salad, so gentle folding with a wooden spoon had to suffice.

 

This salad is a wonderful melding of sweet and salty. Very refreshing with barbequed meats, or on its own.