Watermelon Salad and Not Giving Up Summer without a Fight

I hate when summer ends. I want to sit outside by the pool.  Drinking cosmos.  Eating watermelon.  And enjoying the great outdoors.

Except, I don't have a pool.  I'm on allergy meds so drinks have to be virgin.  As for outside, see previous sentence.

But at least I can stretch summer a bit with watermelon salad.  And a very vivid imagination.

The first time I had watermelon salad was at a fish restaurant chain.  They garnished the salad with pepitas (peh-PEE-tahs), shelled pumpkin seeds.  Pepitas are a great time saver since the only way I can remove seeds from shells cleanly involves my teeth.  They could have just said "shelled pumpkin seeds" in the menu description, but using its Mexican name sounds so exotic.  And it wouldn't have given me the excuse to impart knowledge upon your collective Dear Reader heads with such gems as:   according to that renowned squash expert wikipedia, the oldest known use of pumpkin and seeds was discovered in Mexico and that pumpkins are grown in 6 of the 7 continents (sorry, Antarctica).

Ignoring fat content for a moment, pepitas are rather healthy.  High in iron and magnesium, these seeds are also a good source of protein and fiber.  Pepitas can be found in larger supermarkets, health food store and Mexican grocery stores.

The original salad was made with arugula and a different dressing.  Baby greens are used in this salad because theHubby doesn't care for arugula.   The restaurant used a feta dressing but for convenience I used ranch dressing.  Buttermilk would be great as an alternative.  Pomegranate molasses was not used in the restaurant version, but I tossed on anyway because I like it, it's colorful ... and pomegranate is kind of a requirement for the linkup below.

I gave quantities for the dressing and molasses but to tell the truth, I just drizzled out both until it suited me, then tossed on pepitas until the salad looked pretty.  Tasted pretty good too!


Watermelon Salad
My version of a similar salad served at Bonefish Grill
Serves 6 as a small side-salad

1 (6-8 oz.) bagged baby greens
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 cups small (1/2-1 inch) cubed seedless watermelon
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup ranch or buttermilk dressing
1/2 cup pomegranate molasses (some brands are labeled "pomegranate syrup")
1/4 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), raw or roasted, preferably unsalted

Divide baby greens among 6 salad bowls.

Top evenly with chopped cucumber, watermelon chunks and feta cheese.























Drizzle with ranch (or buttermilk) dressing, followed by pomegranate molasses.  Sprinkle evenly with pepitas and serve.

This recipe is entered in the Kosher Linkup as well as the No Croutons Required vegetarian soup & salad challenge, hosted alternately by Tinned Tomatoes and (this month) by No Croutons Required.


Comments

  1. Yum! I fell in love with watermelon in savory salads this summer, and this sounds like a delicious version

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  2. I'm not ready for summer to go away either. Sigh. This is surely one way to cheer up. Lovely. Thanks for sharing with NCR. The roundup is a bit late this month, but it's coming along.

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