Ingredient of the week: Watermelon

By Jillian Raftery

This week the Seattle Kitchen Show staff thought up some new ways
to serve one of America’s favorite traditional summer foods:
watermelon.

While Katie O remembers eating typical plain chilled watermelon for
dessert growing up, Seattle Kitchen Show co-host Thierry
Rautureau never tried watermelon until he was sixteen.

Since watermelon isn’t as popular in France as it is in the United
States, Thierry remembers eating watermelon for the first time in San
Sebastian, Spain.

“They were serving it like cubes in a salad shape, with a little bit of
sweet wine and cracked pepper and a little bit of salt. That’s it. It’s kind of
like a warm, refreshing salad,” says Thierry.

Co-host Tom Douglas remembers his mother making watermelon
rind pickles every summer that she would serve at Thanksgiving dinner.
She took out the hard green outer rind and cut out the firmer white parts
to put in a brine.

“I want to say three or four times you have to change the brine. And
then she gets cinnamon oil and clove oil and makes these fabulous
watermelon rind pickles,” says Tom.

Since watermelon doesn’t get better with age, it’s a good idea to cut
watermelon up and put it in the freezer to use later in recipes like
watermelon margaritas. That way, you only need to pop frozen cubed
watermelon out of the freezer and put them in the blender for margaritas,
or use them as ice cubes in cocktails.

It’s important to select a good watermelon for these recipes. Many
area grocery stores and farmers markets have a wide selection of fresh
watermelons. Whether you pick traditional red seeded watermelon,
seedless, mini-melons, or yellow, orange, or swirl melons, it’s important
to pick one that’s fresh and sweet.

While some watermelon lovers knock on the melon or shake it to
gauge ripeness, Tom has his own technique.

“My favorite trick is to bring a knife to the supermarket and just cut it
open,” says Tom.

Tom’s watermelon feta salad:

Ingredients: (Makes 6 to 8 servings)

6 cups diced watermelon

1 cup crumbled feta

1/3 cup chopped mint leaves

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil


Sea salt, to taste

Directions: Combine the watermelon, feta, and mint in a large bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and lightly toss
everything together. Sprinkle with sea salt to taste and toss again. Serve immediately.

Listen to this week’s Seattle Kitchen Show:

The Seattle
Kitchen can be heard on 97.3 KIRO FM on Saturdays from 2-4 p.m.
and
Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon. Available anytime ON DEMAND at MyNorth
west.com.