It was a remarkably warm day for the beginning of May and, when I went to the co-op, I was thrilled to find organic watermelon on sale! It seemed perfect. Unfortunately, when I got it home and opened it up, the watermelon was nearly flavorless. It was a ghost of a watermelon. It was a watermelon immediately before being destroyed by the tommyknockers. So now I had a whole watermelon that tasted like nothing. What to do? I dug this salad out of the depths of my memory and it was fantastic. Actually, I thought I invented it and felt very smart but when I was about to post here I looked in my cookbooks and discovered I was inadvertantly channeling Nigella. That's okay, she's smart too. You'll note the lack of measurements given. They will vary based on the size of your watermelon, use your good judgement

SALTY SAVORY WATERMELON SALAD

• One medium sized watermelon cut into bite sized chunks
• Feta cheese
• Black olives (the oil cured kind)
• Fresh mint
• One onion, VERY thinly sliced
• Olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Pour enough lime juice over the onion to totally cover it. Let this sit while chopping everything else.

2. De-pit the olives if necessary and tear them roughly in halves

3. Mix the chunks of watermelon with the feta and olives

4. Shred the mint and add it to the mixture

5. Add the onion/lime juice mixture

6. Pour a generous glug of strong flavored olive oil over the top

7. Toss gently, try not to mush the watermelon

8. Taste, add pepper if needed.

This tastes good right away and better if it is allowed to sit a couple of hours. Resist the temptation to add salt - with the feta and the olives it won't need any.

Source: loosely adapted from Nigella's

Summer Cooking