This salad combines the sweet taste of watermelon, with the savoury taste of mozzarella. It’ll work great as a starter or as a refreshing side dish. It’s perfect for any outdoor dinner or barbecue.
The watermelon plant originates from southern Africa, where the plant actually grows in the wild. During the Middle Ages, the Moors brought the watermelon to Europe. People started cultivating them all over southern Europe. Never further to the north though, due to the colder climate. After all, watermelons require long and warm summers, to develop their large distinctive fruits.
The kind of summers that, here in the Netherlands, we simply don’t have. This is the main reason that watermelons didn’t appear in Dutch shops until the 1950’s. Some people do grow their own watermelons but always smaller varieties, because those require less sunshine. Even then, you need either an exceptionally good summer or a greenhouse.
Normally, watermelons contain a lot of seeds. Those are edible, but not comfortable to eat. Which is why, in the 1940’s, farmers developed seedless varieties. Seedless watermelons are created by crossing two different types of watermelon plants. Breeding a horse and a donkey together, will create a sterile mule. In the same way, breeding these watermelons together, creates a sterile watermelon. This watermelon still has seeds but only very small and underdeveloped ones. So strictly speaking, seedless watermelons do have seeds. But I guess it’s close enough.
For this recipe, you can use either seedless watermelon or a normal one.
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- 1 wedge watermelon
- 1 Spring onion
- 125 g mozzarella
- 2 tbsp hulled pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp fresh basil
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- salt and pepper
Ingredients
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- Roast the pumpkin seeds in a dry pan. Remove the pan from the heat once they're lightly toasted or until the seeds start to pop.
- Transfer the pumpkin seeds to a mortar and pestle and season liberally with salt and pepper. Grind them until most of the seeds are broken and the mixture resembles a very course powder.
- Finely chop the spring onion and the fresh basil. Mix them with the olive oil, vinegar and some pepper, creating a kind of vinaigrette.
- With your hands, tear up the mozzarella into bite-sized chunks. Stir these chunks through the vinaigrette, until they're all well coated.
- Cut the wedge of watermelon into slices of about 1 cm thick (about 1/2 inch). Arrange these triangles neatly onto a plate.
- Next, add the mozzarella mixture. Also arrange these, in little piles, around the plate.
- Finally scatter the pumpkin seeds on top. Serve as a starter or as a side dish.
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