Watermelon Tomato Salad
 
Sounds kind of weird but believe me, it was delicious.  I was looking thru one of my 16 monthly food magazines and came across this in Bon Appetit.  I hope they don’t find out that I published their recipe but it is soooooo delicious.  If you want something different, try this.  I served it with Oven Fried Chicken (which I will post later).  The chicken was room temperature and is also great cold.
 
For 6 to 8 servings (you can easily adapt to smaller quantities just by eyeballing the ingredients.
 
8 cups (about 6 pounds) watermelon
3 pounds ripe tomatoes best if using Heirloom in assorted colors, cored seeded and cut into 1 1/4” chunks.  It’s about 6 cups.
1 teaspoon or more, fleur de sel or coarse kosher salt
5 tablespoons exgtra virgin olive oil, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons chopped basil and mint
6 cups arugula leaves or small watercress springs (I think the arugula is fabulous)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 5 ounces)
1/2 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted
 
Combine melon and tomatoes in large bowl.  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon fleur de sel and toss to blend; let stand 15 minutes.  Add 4 tablespoons oil, vinegar and herbs to melon mixture.  Season to taste with pepper and more salt if desired.
 
Toss arugula in medium bowl with remaining 1 tablespoon oil.  Divide arugula among plates.  Top with melon salad; sprinkle with feta cheese and toasted almonds and serve.
Per serving: 267 calories; 18.2 fat; 3.6 fiber.  
Yes it’s a lot of fat, but it’s mainly the olive oil.  You could cut back on the olive oil or feta cheese, but, it nets out to be 6 points and with a 3 oz piece of chicken, it’s not bad and it sure tastes good and worth it once in a while.  If you cut back to 2 1/2 oz of feta and 4 tablespoons of olive oil: 229 calories; 14.6 g fat; and 3.6g fiber which would be 5 points.  Still worth it going for 6 points.  Another option:  Only use 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon vinegar and only put it on the arugula.  This would then be:  207 calories; 11.5g fat and 3.6g fiber which is 4 points.  Hmmmm.......sounds good to me.
The juice you get from salting the watermelon is a great salad dressing in itself.
Watermelon Tomato Salad
Friday, July 14, 2006
This is the grey salt I used.  Or you could use kosher salt.
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