Oh I know, I may have scared you with the mere idea of this salad but hopefully you’ve already seen it in cookbooks (Nigella has a version using olives) and at restaurants. A friend of mine Nic tried Nigella’s version and pronounced it unpalatable so I was put off eating it for the longest time although I had never tried it myself. Until one blisteringly hot night we had this at Perama in Petersham and it seemed the answer to all of our culinary prayers.
There was juicy sweet watermelon which seemed just designed to quench our thirsts, creamy salty Danish feta (or in Perama’s case Manouri cheese) and refreshing, sharp mint. I speared forkful after forkful drinking up the juice and the creamy cheese all the while lamenting this being the first time I had tried this and alternating it with being thankful for this dish in the oppressive heat.
This version is only four ingredients long and the key is to find a lovely, sweet watermelon. Mr NQN believes that larger watermelons are good for this as they have time to grow and develop their sweetness. Also not using too much feta and balsamic also helped. I did try Nigella’s version with black olives and found the olives too salty for me against the lovely sweet watermelon although many adore her version. I prefer to use Danish feta due to its creaminess which contrasts nicely with the fruit.
So tell me Dear Reader, any tips on how to pick fruit in the supermarket or greengrocer’s?
Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad
Serves 4 as a side salad
- 1.5 kg (3pound) watermelon wedge
- 120grams/4ozs Danish feta
- handful of mint leaves
- a very small dash of balsamic vinegar
1. Cut rind from watermelon and slice into bite sized triangles. Place in bowl and pull apart the Danish feta into chunks and add into bowl along with mint. Toss with clean hands and before ready to serve dress very lightly with balsamic vinegar.
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69 Comments | Add your own
It’s funny how lovely watermelon and feta salads are, isn’t it? I’ve actually made one with prawns and quick pickled red onions a few times, and my family really liked it, despite being nervous to try it!
Mmm, looks cool and refreshing!
Once, an old deli owner told me that choosing a wife was like choosing a watermelon, they might look good on the outside, but..
My grandmother use to put salt on her watermelon, so feta is not as bizarre as it might sound!
This is one of my favourite things to eat! I normally get odd looks when I do eat it, so I am glad you are letting everyone know that it is delicious!!
I love the colours in the salad, so pretty! My dad has made it with olives and I ended up eating around them but I was pleasantly surprised because I bad been doubtful of watermelon and cheese! Just seemed crazy, but the softness of feta did the trick
We used to eat this salad every day in the summer by the pool at the club we used to belong to: it was so refreshing when the heat and humidity is intense!
By the way, you haven’t seen scallops at Lebanese restaurants because it is not a classic dish; I simply used a classic sauce and put scallops in the mix!
I’m a bit like you were, just a little doubtful, though I’ve seen it in a few places. I’ll transfer this onto my must eat list. Looks fabulous to boot.
watermelon i a fruit I am coming around to – esp as I am now among two watermelon lovers at home – so I have been thinking about this recipe and wondering if there is a less salty alternative or if the saltiness of the feta/olives is what makes it. Am sure it would help if I new how to pick a good watermelon but it is still a bit hit and miss for me
Hi NQN,
I’m originally from Bulgaria & there it’s very popular to eat watermelon and feta & sometimes I might have it as a main meal (when it’s very hot & you feel like having something light and fresh).
This is what I have for breakfast, without the mint, probably 4 days out of the week! Yum!
OMG We live off this salad in summer! I’m always asked to bring it as my contribution to any spring/summer bbqs. I grow mint and parsely JUST for this reason, and right now as I type The Man is outside building a vegie patch because our number 1 cherub wants to grow watermelons for the ‘yummy salad’. In terms of picking a watermelon- we get a weekly fruit and vegie box delivery, and I trust Frank implicitly to do the picking of the best fruit for us!
Watermelon salads have become so popular, haven’t they? Your version certainly does look refreshing. I love how you paired the melon with Danish feta. Great idea.
Tips on picking fruit?
Apart from the obvious checking on seasonality, appropriate firmness, colour, etc., my overall rule is scent related.
If I can’t smell the scent before bringing a piece of fruit completely to my nose, I don’t buy it. If I smell it as I’m walking by the display, I fill my basket with it!
Oh, that typically rules out all supermarket, cold stored fruit that for me! I never buy any fresh produce from a supermarket, I’m afraid to say. Only from my local greengrocer.
Mmmmm looks great. This will certainly add my salad intake. A friend just gave me a load of mint so I might just give it a try.
I know with oranges I go by the weight of the individual fruit. The heavier the fruit the juicier. I choose fruit mostly by look & feel. I tend to handle the merchandise – tenderly & lovingly.
Very refreshing and summery! I can’t wait to teast that soon…
Cheers,
Rosa
Never quite understood salads like this one! Give me a greek salad any day
I have never tried that salad but I might try it this summer coming up. I can get feta cheese at the grocery store but I want to get my watermelon at the Farmers market/flea market near my house. I will have to buy some mint plants though.
As faar as salt on a watermelon, I have been doing that for years, but now I have to stop due to high blood pressure( a lot of it is caused by my 9 year old grandson)
I have yet to try this combination but it looks refreshing.
Where can one get Danish feta in Sydney?
i want to try it! but how often are you disappointed by watermelons. . . so hard to get a beautiful sweet one.
I love Nigella’s salad it is divine. I too thougt it was going to be not so good but I made it a couple of years ago after being too curious and my hubby, my cousin and I were pleasantly surprised. I loved the mix of saltiness and sweetness. Your recipe also sounds lovely – might make it tonight have a lovely watermelon in the fridge.
I love this salad! I made something similar (I used a lemon vingarette instead of balsamic and I had olives in it) a few years ago for my boyfriend and teamed it up with some roasted lamb backstrap served with tzatziki. It was probably the best meal I’ve ever made. Everything simply worked together.
This does look very pretty, but I am nervous to try it despite all the positive reviews! It reminds me of people who dip their french fries in milk shakes and the like
although I do love apples and cheese, so maybe I will give this a go!
Danks St Depot at Taste of Sydney is cooking up a Beef Ribs Smoked in Watermelon with a Watermelon and Avocado Salad which sounds even more unusual but apparently it’s very nice. i didn’t get to try though.
Yes, this is a very refreshing salad isn’t it?
I wonder if a dash of white balsamic might make it a little different, too!?
I’ve always wanted to try this, it looks delicious!
My tip about buying fruit in supermarkets? Don’t!!
I’ve been disappointed so many times with fruit that’s been kept in cold storage – looks perfect on the outside but it’s either rotton on the inside, tasteless or goes from underripe to rotton in 0.3 seconds.
Oh dear… I can’t believe I spelt ‘rotten’ wrong twice in the one post.
Forgive me, i’m still half asleep!
I loved this salad when I was travelling through Turkey, I think we’d eat it for breakfast mostly. As far as choosing fruit in the supermarket, depending on what I’m buying – colour, firmness, and smell as things I look for. And also what’s in season, I don’t like imports.
YUM! I haven’t tried this but, with the temps going up again this week, it’s now on the menu plan.
This has prompted me to go to the shops and grab a watermelon. I have a very sore wisdom tooth atm, so I think this would make a nice and refreshing tea for me.
My mum does watermelon and onion for BBQs. Delicious.
I’m a big fan of fruit in salads. I love to add strawberrys to a salad.
I’ve sprinkled fruit salt on watermelon but haven’t tried the cheese combo yet. Hopefully, my hubby won’t give me “the look” if I try this
)
Lovely ingredients, so why wouldn’t it taste nice? I also love segmented Blood oranges with thinly sliced fennel, rocket and black olives as a salad, shame it’s only available in Winter as fennel is a winter bulb and is the sweetest and tastiest when in season. The baby fennel which are available year round just don’t have the robust fennel flavour.
When picking fruit or vegetables, I either smell them ( eg.rockmelons, mango etc) or pick fruit/vegetables that are not bruised or under-ripe. When in doubt, just ask your friendly greengrocer
I didn’t know that people DIDN’T like it! ha!
Yum! I’ve recently tried my first ever watermelon salad and it blew me away!
i would suggest using white balsamic as it’s sweeter and not so overpowering in flavour.
I make my kids choose a lot of the fruit we buy by making them sniff it and hold it in their whole hands so they can judge it’s “squeeze” factor – we get a lot of odd looks – but then we also get a lot of great fruit!
I tried the NIgella’s version. No, it’s not too good.
Then my friend made it for me once and I adored it. It’s in the ingredients, yes?
Seems like there are a few days of summer left! I will have to make this in a hurry as it looks delicious! I love the idea of adding balsamic vinegar.
This is indeed a great salad. A lot of people are nervous to try it but it really is refreshing and delicious. Perfect on a hot day.
Love that salad, Lorraine. It’s a great recipe and photo… you must believe me when I say here in the NE in the States, we are in the last gasps of winter and it seems like it will never end… this salad is summer and warm sun and blue skies… thanks!!!!
Now I’ve got a craving for watermelon and I’ve got a long time to wait before local watermelons will be at the market. The salad looks so refreshing! xoxo Mum
The Cypriots have been eating watermelon with haloumi for years. Also works with rockmelon.
This salad is making me crave the hot summer days. What a refreshing salad!
We have watermelon with balsamic & freshly ground black pepper. I’ll have to try it with the feta & mint, it does sound refreshing.
What a gorgeous salad, Lorraine! I love this combination and can’t wait for summer to get here so we have some watermelons again!
I think it would also be yummy with goat cheese! Mmmm. 
it looks refreshing and mouth watering to me! and the fact that its beautiful doesnt hurt either!
This looks great – so simple and yum.
I was just flipping through an edition of GoodFood today and they were having a watermelon feature. I was definitely eyeing the watermelon salad and muffins! Imagine watermelon muffins.hmm…
Anyway, you totally inspired me to have a budget party! We’ve set our budget at $8 and my friends arent much cooks at all, This is going to be so interesting. hahaha
I would never have thought about combining watermelon with feta. I have to admit it looks pretty good and I’ll have to tell The Lovely Wife that we should try this out one day! Salad and fruits are after all part of her department!!
I had my doubts about this particular combination of ingredients too but I gave it a chance and never looked back! It is a wonderful flavour sensation, summer in a bowl, I think it’s the mint that makes the sweet and salty work together!
Oooh I do love a watermelon salad. I have one on the blog which is based on George Biron’s from Sunnybrae (http://itpleasesus.com/2010/01/15/summer-salads/). I went to Sunnybrae on the weekend and it was magic. While garlic with watermelon seems odd, its absolutely fabulous and gives the watermelon a savoury note. The watermelon salad I enjoyed on the weekend featured thinly sliced mint, garlic, thinly sliced shallots and pomegranate seeds on top. Yum!
I have seen a similar recipe with a thai dressing. I tink Watermelon is a great idea in a salad especially in summer. Its very light and refreshing.
the first time i saw a melon-cheese combination was on top chef. i was inclined to think it was amazing even though the judges hated it simply because it was created by studly sam. i’m glad to see he was on the right track.
I’ve seen recipes for this before but never tried it myself. Sounds wonderful though and very refreshing. Can’t wait for the summer to get my hands on some watermelon
What a gorgeous, refreshing salad, Lorraine! That shot of the watermelon is making me crave it…summer can’t come soon enough.
Have read about watermelon in salads but have yet to try. Gf and I bypassed Perama on Friday night and went to Madeira instead. Will need to make a trip back, it is only on my doorstep after all!
This is something very common in europe, especially around the med… My father eats is with crusty bread! Something to get your head around, but delicious when you finally try!
I like this simple salad as well. Get an organic water melon. So sweet!
Yummo – this looks fantastic!
I’ve seen this in Nigella’s book but never tried it. My tip for buying a watermelon would be to take a child’s buggy so you don’t have to carry it!!!
Hi, I used a similar recipe which used cucumber as well. Everyone enjoyed it:
¼ watermelon, skinned and cut into 2.5cm (1in) cubes
2 x 200g packs feta cheese, cut into 2.5cm (1in) cubes
1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm (1in) cubes
2tbsp capers, drained
3tbsp red wine vinegar
5tbsp olive oil
Place the watermelon, feta cheese, cucumber and capers in a large serving dish, then whisk together the red wine vinegar and olive oil and pour over the salad. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve chilled.
This recipe appeared in Woman & Home Magazine in August 2005
i love this as a salad, the contrast of flavours is fabulous! My friend Adam made me this, but added a drizzle of balsamic dressing and it was very tasty
mmmh, I LOVE watermelon and feta (we often have it with a little parma ham, too) although I’ve never added the balsamic.
You’ve got me craving the warmer weather, when lovely light salads are a pleasure, not a torture!
Oh, I love this salad! I first heard about it from Nigella. I remember thinking, I have to try this, but it’s probably going to be gross! But it wasn’t! It’s really good!!
Extremely interesting salad. We all love feta and watermelon here. We will have to try.
I can’t wait for summer to try this recipe!
You’ve definitely inspired me to try this! In fact I have a huge thing for strange-sounding sweet-savoury combinations that work so well in real life (pear and blue cheese pizza; mango, bacon and chicken salad; parma-wrapped nectarines…). It’s suddenly delightfully spring-like in the UK, so will try this as soon as I see a nice watermelon.
Another good tip I learned from always having nectarines in the backyard – always choose those that have sun-speckled skin – it means they’ve ripened longer on the tree and will be much sweeter than those with perfect colouring.
Miss B xx
http://agirlastyle.wordpress.com/
This is one of my favourite salads! It’s great with basil and pistachios as well…you can also toss the feta with olive oil and oregano and bake it for abt 5mins just till it browns and gets a bit crispy and then toss it in…it’s LOVELY!
I did something like this almost a week ago!
Yours looks better though, and I must try!
I tried this salad for the first time this week and loved it.
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