Watermelon Summer Salad

We change our eating habits significantly during the summer. That’s what happens when you live in the tropics. I am always looking for cooling dishes and dishes that don’t require long cooking. We loved this watermelon summer salad. I served it for dunch the other day and we practically licked the bowl clean.

– “Wait… ‘dunch?!'”

Dunch is what our family calls the meal between normal lunch hours and normal dinner hours. It’s the afternoon equivalent of brunch.

What we usually do during the summer is have two meals:  brunch and dunch. We have a heavy breakfast (or light lunch) mostly consisting of granola, yogurt, fruits and occasionally scrambled eggs. We may have a light snack of fruits or nuts to tide us over until dunch, which we usually have between 4 and 5 in the afternoon.

But even for dunch I refuse to cook anything that requires a long stay in the kitchen. I strive for a “one-hot pot” meal and plenty of salads and fruits.

Luckily my family likes this routine. Or perhaps they are smart enough not to complain to the sweaty woman holding the sharp kitchen knife.

I certainly don’t understand people that slave over a hot stove for hours in the summer (unless you work at a restaurant, then my hat is off to you). I also can’t stand eating heavy dishes when the temperature gets at 35 °C (95 °F) and 65% humidity before it starts its slow descent.

I always lose weight in the summer, and it’s not only the constant perspiration, my appetite also goes down when the heat goes up.

Luckily we have many ways to try and keep cool. There’s always the beach (forget about swimming pools, they turn into boiling cauldrons), or simply vegging around the house or taking a nap during the hottest hours and working during the cooler hours of morning or evening.

Hurrah for freelancing.

The trick to this salad is to keep all the ingredients chilled and to serve as soon as possible, as the watermelon tends to get mushy after some time.

We have a bunch of recipes for summer-friendly and one-pot dishes, and I will be posting another recipe for salad later this week with a list of suggestions for summer, so keep tuned.

Aunt Clara

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Watermelon Summer Salad Recipe

Prep Time

15 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Watermelon Summer Salad Recipe: Delicious, filling and refreshing, perfect with your summer meals and BBQs. I love the gentle sweetness of the watermelon

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

• 1 small seedless watermelon or 1/2 large one , peeled and diced
• 2 heads of iceberg lettuce , shredded
• 1/2 of feta cheese , crumbled
• 1/4 of roasted , peeled pistachios, chopped

For the dressing

• 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon of honey (optional)
• 4 tablespoons of rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 sprigs of curly parsley

Instructions

1. Mix the ingredients for the salad (watermelon, cheese, lettuce and pistachios). Chill.
2. To make the dressing mix olive oil, mustard, honey, vinegar, salt and parsley. Put in a blender and process until all the ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Chill.
3. Serve salad as soon as possible, otherwise the watermelon will get mushy.