Watermelon Tomato Summer Salad

Hello Summer! It’ s officially here. This amazing salad was born one day many summers ago. Every July, we meet up with my husband’s family at a different destination for a week-long summer vacation. We usually rent a home large enough to house 13 and then divvy up dinnertime meals. Each couple is assigned a cooking night. Through the years, we’ve sort of settled into making the same dishes. One of my sisters- in-law makes red beans & rice and pork chops and the other makes Crawfish Etouffee (yes, they’re from New Orleans). I make Mexican lasagna and this Watermelon Tomato Summer Salad. It’s refreshing, delicious, and a fun, new way to enjoy watermelon. It goes well with all of your favorite summery meals.

Tomato and watermelon may seem like an unlikely pair, but if you consider that they’re both fruits and are both loaded with lycopene, it’s no wonder they go so well together. Lycopene is a carotene pigment found in red fruits and vegetables. It’s a powerful antioxidant with cancer-fighting properties and the ability to prevent heart disease. This salad is a refreshing and delicious way to treat your body right. Plus, it’s simple to throw together and perfect for summertime.

First, a couple of tips on choosing a sweet, juicy watermelon. Since watermelons don’t continue to ripen once harvested, it’s important to know how to pick a good one. First, make sure it feels heavy for its size. A heavy watermelon is juicier, so compare several when you shop. Second, look for a yellowish spot (not a white one) on one side of the watermelon. This is called the field spot, the underside part that would’ve laid on the ground. The more yellow the spot is, the more ripe the fruit typically is.

This is an easy salad to prepare. The ingredient list is short – tomatoes, watermelon, red onion, red wine vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil. A little sugar and salt & pepper is used for seasoning and feta cheese (or any other white crumbly cheese) is used as a topping.

If you feel comfortable cutting up a watermelon, go for it. Small cubes work best. If you prefer to buy the watermelon pre-cut from the produce section of your grocery store, just make sure you cut any pieces that are too large into smaller cubes. The tomatoes should be cut into about the same size cubes as the watermelon. They are both sprinkled with a little sugar, salt, and pepper and then allowed to rest for a few minutes. Next, they are drizzled with a red onion, red wine vinegar, and extra-virgin olive oil dressing. If you aren’t a fan of raw onion, just leave it out or use less. Here, only a small amount is used as a layer of flavor.

After a few minutes of marinade time, you’ll have yourself a refreshing and amazing salad to serve alongside your favorite perfectly grilled summer foods. We recently had this salad with grilled pork and sweet red pepper shish kebabs that were marinated in an amazing buttermilk curry sauce. But, it would also be a perfect accompaniment to a flavorful burger or crispy, fried chicken. Oh and if you have leftover watermelon, throw the cubes into a blender with nothing else added. You’ll have the most incredible fresh watermelon juice you’ve ever tasted. There’s no need to add liquid since watermelon is already 92% water. Just make sure your cubes aren’t too big and it should blend up smoothly.

Now’s a great time for this sweet and juicy Watermelon Tomato Summer Salad. Both of the main ingredients are at their peak. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do every summer.

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Adapted (modified slightly) from Southern Living Magazine