Watermelon Salad Bites

Pictured: Your twenties.
Not pictured: Immeasurable regret.

I’m always tickled by foods that don’t arrange themselves into a cohesive whole until you take that first bite, when disparate ingredients come together to make a whole new surprise flavor.

It’s a lesson I perhaps first learned during my bachelor party five years ago in Mexico, where I learned that I could make a perfectly acceptable margarita, completely forgoing the use of a glass.

Okay, so that may not have ended so well. In this case, the combination of cool, sweet watermelon, acidic lime juice, spicy slices of serrano chile, and crumbled salty feta cheese don’t immediately strike your guests as a “salad,” until they take a bite, and the flavors rearrange and combine into something all new. The combination is startling, cooling, and satisfying. They’re inexpensive, perfect for a crowd, and easy to prepare (especially if you start with a seedless watermelon). The presentation may be a little more modern than most of the things I cook, but these self-contained bite-sized watermelon salads are always a surprise hit.

Watermelon Salad Bites
Adapted from a recipe by Foodie Relations

Ingredients:

• 1 small ripe seedless watermelon, peeled and cubed
• 8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/2-1 serrano chile, sliced thinly
• 1/2-1 tbsp kosher salt, to taste
• 2 limes, juiced
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

In a large bowl, combine the lime juice and olive oil. Stir well to combine. Add the watermelon, and toss to coat evenly. Arrange watermelon cubes on a serving plate, and top each piece with a little bit of feta, and a slice of serrano chile. Sprinkle with salt, to make the flavors really pop. Serve immediately, or within a few hours; if prepared too far in advance, the watermelon will release much of its juice.

Tagged as: appetizers, feta, party food, salad, serrano, watermelon

About the Author: Malcolm Bedell

My first memories of cooking start in Maine at six years old, when I wore a yellow rainslicker to avoid getting spattered by the bacon I was frying in a skillet. My interest in both Mexican cooking and recreating classic New England dishes from scratch developed while living in Mexico, on a steady diet of pork and habanero peppers. You can see more of my writing and photography online on Serious Eats, the Huffington Post, BlogHer, and Foodista, as well as in print for Downeast, Indulge, and Cigar Snob magazines.