Name: Bigly Watermelon Feta Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 6 cups seedless watermelon, cubed into 1-inch pieces; 6 oz block feta cheese, crumbled; 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves; 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves; 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 2 tbsp balsamic glaze; 1 lime, zested and juiced; to taste flaky sea salt; to taste black pepper, freshly cracked

Bigly Watermelon Feta Salad

Prep

10m

Cook

Total

10m

Bigly says

Listen to me. Watermelon and feta. WATERMELON. AND. FETA. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'Bigly, that's a weird combination, fruit and cheese, the salty and the sweet, who decided this was a good idea?' I'll tell you who. The GREEKS. The Greeks decided. They've been doing this since before the printing press — pre-pyramid technology, some food historians say, and I've talked to food historians, they're a strange bunch but they know their stuff — the Greeks had it figured out while the rest of the world was eating wet bread, the Greeks were SITTING on a hilltop overlooking the Aegean Sea eating watermelon and feta and laughing at everybody. And good for them. Good for the Greeks.

This salad — my salad, the Bigly version, the TREMENDOUS version — takes that ancient Greek wisdom and turns it up. Way up. Bigly up. We've got the watermelon, ice cold, juicy, sweet — and I had a version of this in a hut in the Andes once, true story, a woman handed me a wedge of cold watermelon with crumbled goat cheese on a tin plate and I haven't been the same person since, hand on heart — and we've got the feta, real Greek feta, sheep's milk feta, the briny salty crumbly kind, not the rubber pucks they sell pre-crumbled in the dusty plastic tubs. That stuff is a CRIME against the dairy industry. A disgrace.

People come up to me, they say, 'Bigly, I never liked watermelon, my whole life I was a watermelon skeptic, my parents tried, my grandparents tried, nothing worked, and then I ate YOUR watermelon feta salad and I cried, I openly cried, my whole life was a lie.' That happens. That happens a lot. Tough guys, with the tears in the eyes, crying over the watermelon. It's just a fact.

Ingredients

6 cupsseedless watermelon, cubed into 1-inch pieces(cold, straight from the fridge)
6 ozblock feta cheese, crumbled(real Greek sheep's milk feta in brine, not the pre-crumbled stuff)
1/4 cupfresh mint leaves(torn, not chopped — chopped bruises it)
2 tbspfresh basil leaves(torn)
3 tbspextra virgin olive oil
2 tbspbalsamic glaze(the thick reduction, not regular vinegar)
1lime, zested and juiced
to tasteflaky sea salt(Maldon, the flaky kind, end of discussion)
to tasteblack pepper, freshly cracked

Steps

1
Make sure the watermelon is cold. If it's been sitting on the counter, put it in the fridge for an hour before starting. Cold watermelon is non-negotiable.
2
Arrange the watermelon cubes on a large shallow platter in a single layer or gentle pile. Do not use a deep bowl — the watermelon weeps and gets soggy.
3
Scatter the crumbled feta evenly over the watermelon.
4
Tear the mint and basil leaves over the top, distributing evenly.
5
Zest the lime over the salad, then squeeze the juice over everything.
6
Drizzle the olive oil first, then drizzle the balsamic glaze in a thin zigzag pattern.
7
Finish with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt and a few cracks of black pepper. Serve immediately.

One more thing

This is a ten-minute salad and it eats like a hundred-dollar appetizer at one of those restaurants where the waiter folds your napkin when you go to the bathroom. Make it. Serve it on the patio. Pour yourself something cold. Watch the sun go down. This is what summer is FOR — and forget what the other so-called experts say about needing fourteen steps and a chef's degree, we're out here eating watermelon and feta the way the Greeks intended, on a hilltop, with cold drinks, laughing at everybody. Tremendous.