We’ve taken two popular salad ingredients; fresh watermelon and salty feta, added luscious herbs, crisp cucumber, fresh cherries, pistachios, a sprinkle of Aleppo pepper and created my son’s new favourite salad: Watermelon, Herb & Cucumber Salad.
This fresh salad comes together quickly and is best eaten when watermelon, cucumbers and cherries are in season. It’s a simple salad that shines because of the ingredients. Oh and those fresh herbs!
Related: Watermelon, Blueberry, Mint and Feta Salad
The first time I made this salad it didn’t have cherries. But I had cherries on the table to enjoy with our dinner.
We cut a few up, added them to our watermelon, herb and cucumber salad and decided they should permanently be in this salad!
What’s with all the Fresh Herbs
Fresh herbs are totally my jam these days. I’ve made many recipes the last couple of years from the Middle East and Eastern Europe cookbooks that incorporate fresh herbs. They really do add so much pizazz to a dish.
I chose Basil as it pairs nicely with these fruits and vegetables, Dill, Mint and Cilantro to elevate the flavour. Believe it or note, these herbs all work together and do not over power.
PRO TIPS:
- Keep your watermelon and cucumber slices on the thin side
- Perfect watermelon shapes are not necessary
- Crumble the Feta on the salad
- Use as much or as little pistachio dust as you want.
- Use fresh cherries, not frozen
- Don’t like cilantro, don’t add cilantro!
What is Pistachio Dust
Simply put – ground up pistachios. Whenever I buy and shell them I tend to eat more than I should.
One day I used my mortar and pestle to grind up a few and created pistachio dust. Good on yogurt, dips, burgers, grilled fish, desserts, all the things. Keep in a storage container in your refrigerator if you have room.
What to serve with this salad
We served this salad with grilled chicken. It would be perfect along side any grilled meat, burgers, at a potluck or any kind of gathering.
Ingredients
- 3 cups watermelon rind removed, sliced thin
- 1 cup cucumber sliced
- 1/2 cup cherries pitted and halved
- 1/3 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 1/2 cup pistachios a few crushed fine making pistachio dust and a few broken up
- 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 lime halved
- 1 tbsp Mint
- 1 tbsp Basil
- 1 tbsp Dill
- 1 tbsp Cilantro
- 1 tsp Aleppo Pepper
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
Instructions
- Add watermelon to your platter or serving dish.
- Layer on cucumber, cherries, feta cheese and broken pistachios.
- Drizzle extra virgin olive oil all over and squeeze over one half of the lime.
- Sprinkle herbs all over salad, pistachio dust, Aleppo pepper and sea salt.
- Serve and enjoy.
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