Watermelon Curry on Black Lentil Cakes

Prior to making this, I’d only had watermelon curry once before. A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to observe as Chef Todd Duplechan showed me how to prepare a dish of poached shrimp with watermelon curry. I remember his version was spicy and barely sweet, layered with complex flavors, and it paired perfectly with the shrimp poached in flavored oil. When I found this simpler dish of vegetarian black lentil cakes with the striking, bright, red watermelon curry in New Vegetarian Kitchen, I had to try it while local watermelons are available. The curry is built on a base of ginger and garlic that’s cooked along with cumin, fenugreek, and chiles. Pureed watermelon is used in addition to some small watermelon chunks for a mix of textures. It thickens as it cooks, and the savory spices balance the sweet fruit. The black lentil cakes bring plenty of flavor to the dish as well. They’re a mix of cooked and mashed lentils with sauteed onion and garlic seasoned with cumin seeds, garam masala, coriander, and ground dried chiles. After shaping the cakes and tasting for seasoning, I knew they were going to be good. Likewise, while tasting the watermelon curry as it simmered, it was very good as well. But, when they came together, the crispy, browned lentil cakes topped with the watermelon curry were better than good and even better than I expected. 

You can approach this dish in two parts. The black lentil cakes can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to brown them just before serving. The black lentils were cooked until tender which was about 40 minutes. They were then drained and transferred to a large mixing bowl in which they were mashed with a potato masher. Finely chopped onion was sauteed in a large skillet for a few minutes before garlic was added followed by cumin seeds, garam masala, ground coriander, and I added some cayenne powder. The onion and spice mixture was added to the mashed lentils along with some flour and salt and pepper. The recipe in the book suggests rather large bean cakes, but I divided the mixture into smaller portions. Each bean cake was coated with more flour, placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and the sheet pan was refrigerated until it was time to cook. For the curry, fresh ginger and garlic were pureed in a food processor to form a paste. The paste was cooked in a skillet with vegetable oil for about a minute before cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds were added. Finely chopped fresh red chile was added next. Starting with a five pound watermelon, half of it was pureed, and the other half was chopped into small chunks. The pureed watermelon was added to the ginger and garlic mixture, brought to a boil, and allowed to simmer and reduce for about ten minutes. It thickens surprisingly well. As the sauce reduced, the lentil cakes were cooked in oil in a skillet for about three minutes per side until browned and crisp. Just before serving, lime juice and the watermelon chunks were added to the curry, and it was spooned over the cooked lentil cakes. 

As I mentioned, the result here is more than the sum of its parts. The cakes are crispy on the surface and tender in the middle while the sauce is a combination of smooth puree and chunkiness. Fruity sweetness, spicy earthiness, and some subtle fenugreek bitterness work together delightfully. Grab a watermelon before the season ends and try it in a savory dish like this.

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Watermelon Mojito

As the summer heat settles in, a book full of beautiful cocktails is a welcome sight. In the new book from David Alan, Tipsy Texan: Spirits and Cocktails from the Lone Star State, there are classics as well as cocktails with new twists, and I want to sit in the shade and sip every one of them. I recently received a review copy of the book. I knew I was going to love it when I took a first flip through the pages and spotted a recipe for homemade Orgeat. I once went on a bit of an ingredient hunt for it, and in the future, I’ll be delighted to make my own. The recipes are categorized by style of cocktail like “Light, Bright, and Refreshing,” “Big and Boozy,” and “Sweet, Creamy, and Desserty.” And, throughout the recipes, there are technique tips, ingredient information, and a little cocktail history. The homemade Orgeat is used in a tiki-style, vodka cocktail called a Showgirl that also has passion fruit syrup, lime juice, and St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram. With lots of garnishes and crushed ice, it’s a pretty drink for a summer party. The Root Beer “Float” achieves its namesake look with cloudy absinthe poured on top. The Old Austin is an update on an Old Fashioned with pecan syrup, Angosturra bitters, and rye whiskey. One that I predict I’ll be enjoying frequently for the remainder of the season is the Hot Summer Night which is a mix of honey syrup, thyme sprigs, lemon juice, vodka, Paula’s Texas Lemon, which is our local limoncello, and natural lemon soda. First though, I had to mix up some Watermelon Mojitos. 

Muddling everything in a mixing glass makes this an easy cocktail to create. Watermelon chunks, mint sprigs, and some simple syrup were smashed with the muddler before rum, lime juice, and ice were added. The mixture was shaken until chilled and then poured through the strainer into an ice-filled glass. For cocktails, I like to crush ice by whacking it with a hammer after sealing it in a plastic bag and wrapping it in a towel. Last, it was topped with some carbonated water.  Mint and lime wedges were added for garnish. 

Smashed fruit with mint and rum never fails to make a refreshing cocktail, and juicy watermelon is an ideal choice. The classic Mojito is also in the book along with a story about how dreadful the drink became when bartenders turned to mixes rather than using fresh mint. I’m inspired to sort through my liquor cabinet, add some new bottles, and shake and stir my way through all of these cocktail recipes. 

Watermelon Mojito 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permissions from From Tipsy Texan: Spirits and Cocktails from the Lone Star State by David Alan/Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC. 

Like most classic Sour-formula cocktails, the Mojito is an easy target for market-fresh improvisation. Any number or combination of fresh fruits can be muddled with the mint and other herbs to create an easy seasonal twist. My favorite such variation is made with watermelon, which to me is synonymous with summer and always in the refrigerator during its long season. 

4 large sprigs fresh mint 
About 1/2 cup cubed and seeded watermelon 
1/2 to 3/4 ounce Simple Syrup 
1 1/2 ounces white rum 
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice 
1 to 1 1/2 ounces carbonated water 
Lime wedge, for garnish 

Gently muddle three of the mint sprigs and the watermelon with the simple syrup in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add the rum and lime juice and shake vigorously with ice to chill. You may need to adjust the amount of syrup depending on how sweet your watermelon is. Strain into an icefilled Collins glass. Top with the carbonated water. Garnish with the remaining mint sprig and the lime wedge and serve with a straw. 

While a bottle of carbonated water from the grocery store will get the job done, I prefer charged water from a soda siphon. Bottled bubble water—especially in plastic bottles—tends to go flat quickly, whereas a siphon of charged water will stay perky in the fridge for a long time. More important, the water coming out of a siphon does so with force and invigorates the drink from the bottom up, as opposed to just sitting on the top of the glass. The standard soda siphon is reasonably inexpensive, and is definitely cost-effective in the long run. Simply fill the siphon with filtered water, charge with a CO2 cartridge, and refrigerate carbonated water. 

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Poached Shrimp with Watermelon Curry and Masa Cookie

It’s time for summer fun, summer vacations, and summer food. To celebrate the beginning of the season, Tribeza has organized an event, the Summer Solstice Chef’s Table Series from June 27 to June 29, to showcase menus inspired by this time of year. At eight different Austin restaurants, guests will have an opportunity to dine with the chef and enjoy special dishes created just for this event. Trio is one of those participating restaurants, and Chef Todd Duplechan’s menu will include poached gulf shrimp with watermelon curry and a masa cookie, warmed loch salmon with braised market vegetables and lemon aioli, and bacon wrapped lamb loin with heirloom squash and black garlic custard. I had the opportunity to stop by the kitchen at Trio, talk with Chef Duplechan about the Chef’s Table dinner, and watch as he showed me how to prepare the poached shrimp dish. We talked about the Texas heat, spices and chiles, what grows locally, and he taught me a few interesting cooking techniques along the way.

Here in central Texas, Chef Duplechan likes to cook what grows nearby, and that fits with his idea of creating a new southwestern cuisine. He says “there’s more to southwestern cuisine that blue corn chips.” Rather than taking influence solely from Mexican cooking as most southwestern dishes do, his creations brings together elements of cooking from various hot weather climates around the world. By taking cues from Southeast Asia, his dishes have a lightness that’s especially welcome during our hot summer season. A perfect example of how these ideas come together is this poached shrimp dish. The shrimp are from the Gulf and as many of the other ingredients as possible were procured locally.

Watermelon, which is a well-loved Texas summer fruit, is taken in a new direction via Southern India for this curry sauce. Making the sauce began with mustard seed oil being warmed in a saute pan. Cumin seeds were toasted in the oil, ground coriander and ground mustard seeds were added, finely diced green chiles and ginger came next, and this mixture cooked just until the chiles softened. Next, turmeric and pureed watermelon were added, and the sauce was allowed to reduce and thicken. The watermelon was not strained, so it retained some texture. I was offered tastes as the sauce reduced and Chef Duplechan explained how the watermelon takes on a squash-like flavor when cooked. It also becomes sweeter as the water evaporates. Once reduced, lime juice and zest were added which cut the sweetness, and chopped cilantro was added. In the end, the sauce had an underlying sweetness, bright lime flavor, and nice notes of heat from the chiles and ginger.

Next, we talked about the shrimp. These were big, fresh, gorgeous ten per pound, Gulf shrimp. They had been shelled, deveined, and skewered to make them straight. They were going to be oil poached but not in plain oil. This was one of those cooking tips that’s genius, that adds so much flavor, and that I never would have thought to do. The oil had been treated like a stock. The shrimp shells and some of the same spices used in the curry had been cooked in the oil and then strained out before the oil was used to poach the shrimp. I tasted the oil before the shrimp were placed in it, and it was so flavorful I knew the shrimp were going to be phenomenal. To gently poach shellfish in oil, the temperature needs to be no higher than about 125 degrees F. Duplechan checked the temperature and maintained the low heat by pulling the pan with the oil off the heat when the temperature climbed too high. He explained the good news about poaching shellfish is that you have a long window of doneness. You can watch as the shrimp turn from translucent to opaque white, and you want to pull them from the oil before the opaque-ness reaches the center of the shrimp. They’ll finish cooking from residual heat once removed from the oil.

One last element for this dish was a masa cookie. Masa is a typical southwestern ingredient, but it was given a new twist here. It was baked into a tuile after being mixed with sugar, and ground coriander and mustard seeds. No water was added. The dry mixture was spread on a baking sheet, and as it heated in the oven, the sugar melted and the tuile formed. The big, thin cookie then easily broke into pieces. It was a sweet, savory, corn-flavored bit of crunch.

The dish was plated with a layer of arugula, then the watermelon curry, the shrimp were pulled from the skewers and placed on the sauce, the masa cookie was broken into shards which were strewn about, and last, a little drizzle of the poaching oil was added. My reaction upon tasting the finished dish was a wow. That was perfectly cooked, juicy, plump shrimp, and all those wonderful flavors in the watermelon curry accompanied it nicely. The fresh, bright flavors and slight edge of heat, the mix of textures with the crisp masa cookie, and the lightness of it all made a stellar combination. And, this is just one of the courses offered at Trio for the Chef’s Table Series.

For more information about the menus, the locations, and the opportunity to sit and dine with some of Austin’s top chefs, see the Tribeza site.

Tomato and Watermelon “Tartare” with Goat Cheese-Pistachio Vinaigrette

I was invited to attend a class taught by Chef David Bull at the Central Market cooking school, and the topic of the class was vegetarian dishes and wine pairings. David Bull doesn’t usually focus on vegetarian cooking as you can see in his dinner menu at Bolla at the Stoneleigh Hotel in Dallas, but he’s always happy to prepare vegetarian tasting menus upon request and there is always a vegetarian option or two on his menus. During the class, Bull spoke about textural contrast in food and recognizing ingredients for inherent flavors and balancing them. He also demonstrated some interesting knife techniques like holding the handle up and the point down when slicing avocados to prevent the slices from sticking to the blade. He created seven dishes for the class: avocado mousse with sprouts jicama jalapeno and grapefruit, cucumber summer rolls with yellow curry and coconut, white gazpacho with red grapes soy milk and toasted almonds, tomato and watermelon “tartare,” watercress salad with Texas peaches and buttered brioche, daikon noodles with green beans, and potato gnocchi with oven roasted tomatoes and black olive oil. (gazpacho, peaches, summer roll, and gnocchi are shown below)

This fall, Bull will be opening two new restaurants in Austin. Congress will be a fine dining, dinner-only restaurant, and Second at Congress will be a more casual spot with patio and terrace seating serving brunch, lunch, and dinner. Connecting the two will be Bar Congress serving appetizers and cocktails. Bull mentioned he’s working with farmers to determine how much of the menus can be sourced locally. You can also find Bull’s cuisine in an interactive format. His online cookbook is called Bull’s Eye on Food, and you can search recipes by title, type, or ingredient. Once you choose a dish to prepare, you can enter the number of people you’ll be serving, and the quantities in the ingredient list will be re-calculated for that number. It will also generate shopping lists and even send the list to a smart phone. The other nice interactive feature of this book is that new recipes are added all the time. The vegetarian dishes prepared for the class were added just after being presented.

I sampled and enjoyed all of the dishes from the class, although the wine pairings didn’t uncover any new favorites for me. The white gazpacho was surprisingly good because of how well-balanced it was. I expected something a bit on the sweet side, but instead it was crisp, cool, a little tangy, only slightly sweet, and was delightful with the almonds on top. The cucumber rolls were fresh, crunchy, and light. I considered making those with some added stick-like pieces of tofu. And, the watercress salad with peaches and buttered brioche with a peach puree and red wine vinegar sauce was outstanding. That would be a beautiful brunch dish. Last, I was thrilled to watch the gnocchi being prepared as I’ve lived in fear of attempting to make it myself for so long. I think I’m almost ready to try it now. But, the dish I had to try right away to make at home was the tomato and watermelon "tartare." It was summery and brightly-flavored with hints of savoriness from shallots and red onion. The goat cheese dressing was delicious as was the pistachio vinaigrette, and when the two were swirled together with a bite of the tartare, it was excellent.

While demonstrating this recipe, Bull explained that he was including chef’s techniques and that a home version could be simplified. I chose to make a simplification or two; I admit it. I didn’t bother preparing the tomato concasse. I left it unpeeled and just seeded it. I did make the watermelon rind pickles, but my julienne on them and on the celery pieces could have been thinner. I was happy with the ring-molded shape of the salad, and pressing excess liquid from the contents of the mold, as instructed, is necessary for it to hold together well. Then, it’s very pretty on the plate with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios and the dressings drizzled here and there. The complete, chef-version of the recipe is below.

recipe re-printed with Chef's permission
Tomato and Watermelon "Tartare" with Goat Cheese-Pistachio Vinaigrette

tartare:
3 heirloom tomatoes
1 1/2 c seedless watermellon, small diced, rind reserved for celery salad
1 tablespoon shallots, brunoise
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt

-prepare the tomatoes concasse by blanching them, shocking them in cold water, peeling the skins, seeding them, and then dicing them.
-in a small mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and season with salt

pickled watermelon rind:
1/2 cup watermelon rind, peeled and all red fruit removed, julienned
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

-combine the vinegar and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. reduce mixture by half and chill completely.
-pour the chilled mixture over the watermelon rind in a bowl and allow to sit for 20-30 minutes.
-remove the rind and drain the liquid. reserve the rind for the celery salad.

celery salad:
1 cup celery hearts, loosely packed
1/2 cup celery, finely julienned
1/2 cup pickled watermelon rind
1/8 cup red onion, fine julienne
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt

-in a small mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients.

goat cheese dressing:
1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon sea salt

-mix all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until completely. should be the consistency of yogurt.

pistachio vinaigrette:
1/4 cup pistachios, toasted, salted, and ground
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
lemon juice, to taste

-toast pistachios in a 350 degree F oven for about six minutes. remove from oven, season with salt, and grind them in a food processor until finely crumbled. reserve some ground pistachios for garnish.
-mix the remaining pistachios with the rest of the ingredients in a small mixing bowl until completely combined.

assembly:
-place the tartare into ring molds and press with a clean kitchen towel (or paper towel) to release some of the juice. unmold the tartare onto plates.
-top tartare with celery salad and toasted, ground pistachios.
-drizzle the goat cheese dressing and pistachio vinaigrette around the plate and serve.

Watermelon with Shrimp

Recipes from an Italian Summer is a new book by the Silver Spoon kitchen from Phaidon Press, and I recently received a review copy. It’s a collection of easy, breezy summer dishes for picnics, light meals, and summer entertaining. The recipes in this book are meant to be enjoyed at relaxing gatherings, and so most can be prepared in advance. These are simple dishes that take advantage of the best of the season. Fresh fruits find their way into desserts as well as savory dishes. This watermelon and shrimp salad is a perfect example of that. When I read about this dish, I was sure it would be a winner. Last summer, I became addicted to a watermelon and halloumi salad, and I quite like watermelon in savory applications. Kurt was less sure. He didn’t say a word as I prepared it, but his silence spoke volumes. Yes, this is a mix of shrimp, green olives, and mayonnaise served with watermelon balls. Is that weird? I didn’t really think it was. After a taste, Kurt realized his apprehension was unfounded.

I was glad to use some nice, big Gulf shrimp for this. I peeled and deveined them and roasted them in a 400 degree F oven with just olive oil and salt and pepper. Christina from the Central Market Cooking School gave me a great tip for shrimp at the last class I attended. Her tip is: "C" is for cooked, and "O" is for overcooked. You want to stop cooking your shrimp before they curl into an "O" shape. For the 20 per pound shrimp I used, that was about two minutes on each side. I let the shrimp cool before combining them with mayonnaise, chopped mint leaves, and halved green olives. For serving, the recipe directs you to use a hollowed watermelon half as a bowl and to season it with salt, pepper, and brandy. Then, the shrimp salad is to be placed in the watermelon bowl in alternating layers with melon balls. Since I was serving two people, I instead sprinkled some brandy on the melon balls, used smaller boat-shaped pieces of watermelon rind, and sort of layered or stuck melon balls into the salad as I could. I topped ours with basil chiffonade.

I can tell you that I now have two favorite, savory salads made with watermelon. Salty green olives, sharp mint, and shrimp in mayonnaise mixed with crunchy, sweet melon was a mix of contrasts that worked. The brandy added some complexity too. The best thing about this, though, was watching Kurt as he tasted and enjoyed. Then, he admitted that he was worried about this one but was surprised because it was actually really good. I knew it would be.

Watermelon Sorbetto

I’ve finally learned of all the wonders to be found in The Perfect Scoop. I had to get an ice cream maker first, and now that I have one, the three of us (ice cream maker, book, me) will be found together quite a lot. This book can teach you how to make all the classic ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and granita flavors, and it offers so much more. There are sauces and vessels for dressing up the frozen treats, and the tips and techniques are wonderfully useful. For instance, I didn’t realize I could prevent a mixture from instantly freezing to the sides of the canister by simply turning on the machine, let it start spinning, and then pour in the custard or puree. Then, the serving suggestions had my head spinning. I never would have thought of serving banana sorbet with espresso granita garnished with candied pineapple or chocolate granita crystals spooned over white chocolate ice cream or super lemon ice cream with fluffy marshmallow sauce to mimic a lemon meringue pie. One suggestion I will be trying very soon is butterscotch pecan ice cream scooped onto blondies and drizzled with lean chocolate sauce or possibly caramel sauce. With all of these great ideas, I would have had a very hard time deciding where to start if it weren’t for a great, big watermelon sitting on my kitchen counter. That made the watermelon sorbetto an easy choice.

Watermelon was pureed into juice. Some of the juice was warmed in a saucepan with sugar and a pinch of salt until the sugar dissolved. That mixture was combined with the rest of the watermelon juice and some lime juice. Vodka was optional, and I skipped it believe it or not. I quite like vodka with watermelon and lime, but I chose to keep the sorbetto alcohol-free. The watermelon juice mixture was chilled, and then it went into the ice cream maker after turning it on and letting it start spinning of course.

There was one special ingredient in this sorbetto. Rather than just freezing that watermelon juice mixture, a surprise in the form of mini chocolate chunks was stirred in at the end. The little chocolate pieces look like seeds, and they give the sorbetto bits of crunch and dark chocolate flavor. In the book, the sorbetto is shown frozen into popsicles. I don’t have a popsicle mold, yet, so I froze mine as individual servings in ramekins instead. Individual servings are almost as fun as a popsicles aren’t they? It often seems like frozen treats are just for summer, but there are ideas for all seasons throughout the book. I’m looking forward to creating all of these frozen treats for all kinds of occasions to come.

Pink Margarita Slushes and Fried Okra

Because of the powerful heat and drought conditions we’ve had this summer, the farm with which we have a CSA share decided to let their plants rest for a couple of weeks. They postponed pick-ups and extended the time for this season. The schedule has now resumed, and I’m having a good time cooking with all the local, seasonal produce. Zucchini and yellow squash are in abundance, and right now, okra is ripe for the picking. There are some great southern dishes to be prepared with these vegetables, and I got to thinking about planning a meal highlighting as many of them as possible. My goal was to create an entirely vegetarian, southern feast, and it was easy to do. The meal began with frosty watermelon and tequila cocktails and fried okra. I left meat out of the menu, but I didn’t say it would be spa food, so yes, the okra was fried.

The recipe for the cocktail is from the Martha Stewart site. I noticed the photo of these pretty, icy beverages the other day, and when I received a little, round watermelon from the farm, this seemed like a perfect use of it. I cut the recipe in half to serve two, and that worked exactly right for the amount of cubed watermelon I had. Those cubes were placed in a blender with lime juice, sugar, and tequila, and the blender pitcher was filled with ice. That was blended until smooth and delicious. For the okra, I didn’t exactly follow a recipe, but this one from Emeril is pretty much how I prepared it. The okra was sliced and covered with buttermilk, and it was then dredged in a mixture of cornmeal, flour, salt, and pepper. Then, it was fried until golden. I made a mayonnaise dipping sauce to accompany it, and the recipe for that is below.

I’ve said before that okra may not be for everyone, but fried okra could be. The warm, crunchy goodness dipped into the spicy and tangy mayonnaise was a good fit with the margarita slushes. If you’re lucky enough to have access to fresh okra and watermelon, I highly recommend this combination.

Ancho Lime Mayonnaise

½ c prepared mayonnaise (Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise is my favorite)
4 or so dribbles Crystal hot sauce
½ t ancho powder
Zest of ½ lime
1 t fresh lime juice
pinch of cayenne (or more to taste)

-combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir until smooth

Tabbouleh, Tzatziki, and Watermelon Salad

We had a great fourth of July holiday weekend. We spent a lot of time outside, we had a lot of fun, but mostly, we ate a lot of food. I had several things in mind that I wanted to try, and I managed to put them together into one big feast of a meal on Sunday night. My original inspiration for the meal came from the cucumbers that were included in our CSA pick up. I love chopped cucumbers simply tossed into a green salad, but these were destined for something more interesting. I’m not sure of the varieties of cucumbers we received, but one was long, skinny, and striped. As soon as I saw it, I started thinking about tzatziki and how I had never made it myself. I flipped to the recipe in the Barefoot Contessa Parties! book, and right there on the preceding page is the tabbouleh recipe. I had also just seen some fantastic-looking watermelon salads on both Kopiaste and Kalofagas, and I decided to put these ideas together along with some pita, feta, hummus, good olives, and grilled kabobs. I wanted to make homemade pita but ran out of time. One of these days, I’ll try making it myself. As long as I’m confessing, I bought the hummus already made as well. There were just too many other fun things to do this weekend, but all the parts came together for a meal that left me wishing I could keep eating for several hours in a row.

Early in the day, I marinated chicken in lemon juice and zest, olive oil, garlic, and oregano. I also started the tzatziki by grating the cucumber and leaving it in a sieve over a bowl in the refrigerator for a few hours. Ina’s recipe suggests that the yogurt also be strained, but I used thick, Greek yogurt and skipped that step. To complete the tzatziki, the strained cucumber was combined with yogurt, sour cream, minced garlic, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, fresh dill, salt, and pepper. The tabbouleh is also a good dish to prepare in advance so the flavors can form a mutually respectful union, and I have actually made the recipe from this book before. First, bulgur wheat was covered with boiling water, and lemon juice, olive oil, and salt were added. That was left for an hour while green onions, fresh mint, parsley, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes were chopped. After the bulgur had absorbed the water, the other ingredients were incorporated, and it was placed in the refrigerator until ready to be served.

We had green bell peppers, onions, and yellow squash also from our CSA, so those were included on the kabobs with the chicken. While the kabobs were on the grill, I sauteed sliced haloumi in olive oil for the watermelon salad. I used basil because my mint has succumbed to the heat, and I forgot to save some of the store-bought mint I used in the tabbouleh for this salad. I also completely forgot about the red onion that should have been added to the salad, but it worked out ok. Actually, this simple salad of watermelon chunks, browned haloumi, basil, and olive oil was one of the single most delicious things I’ve eaten lately. I can’t stop talking about it, and I highly suggest everyone give it a try.

The watermelon salad was definitely the star of the evening, every bite inspired nodding and smiling, but the table was loaded with delicious things. The kabobs were made even better with the tzatziki, the tabbouleh was cool, fresh, and crunchy, and the sharp, sheep feta and mix of olives were tasty accessories on the platter. I’m now wondering why I had never made tzatziki before, but I’ll certainly be making it again. The cucumber, dill-flavored, creamy goodness pairs so well with lemon-marinated chicken. At the end of the meal, we were beyond stuffed, and we were saddened that we’d reached a point at which not one more bite could be taken. Luckily though, with leftovers, we can enjoy it all again.

Gelo di Melone

This is another item from the September Saveur and is based on a recipe by Nick Malgieri. I was intrigued by the thought of a thick, pudding-like dessert made with just pureed fruit, sugar, and cornstarch. And, I wanted to have one more watermelon before summer is gone. However, I approached this as an experiment. I wasn’t sure I would like it. I don’t think I’ve ever not enjoyed a Sicilian dish, but watermelon pudding could have gone either way for me. I like big chunks of watermelon, and I like that they’re juicy and light and crunchy. I also like pureed watermelon with a little lime juice and vodka. But, the thought of taking watermelon and turning it into a thick, smooth substance made me curious.

I used a small, very sweet, seedless watermelon; so I reduced the suggested amount of sugar by almost half. The watermelon, sugar, and cornstarch combination was passed through a sieve once thickened, so the little, white seeds were removed, and the resulting texture was completely smooth.

This was very much like pudding, but it was also very light with the watermelon flavor at the forefront. The gilding of pistachios, grated chocolate, and whipped cream provided textural contrast and a little decadence. And, the bright, pink color was delightful. I guess it is ok for watermelon to be something other than juicy, crunchy chunks or a vehicle for vodka. Now, I’m thinking of other fruit purees to turn into puddings, and mango could be up next.