Watermelon, Cucumber and Goat Cheese Salad

Serves people

This salad is so refreshing! Cubed watermelon with salty lime cucumbers, goat cheese, pumpkin seeds, shallots, mint and cilantro. It's extremely easy to make and full of fresh flavor.

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I couldn’t fully describe this salad in the blog post title. So let me explain. This is a refreshing watermelon and cucumber salad. But, it’s more than just that. I’ve paired fresh watermelon with cucumber that’s been marinated in a salty lime juice mixture. Then, I tossed it with pumpkin seeds, goat cheese, sliced shallots, cilantro and fresh mint. AND IT’S SO DELICIOUS. AND!!!! IT’S SO EASY!!!! Don’t let these ingredients scare you and don’t click away! Just look at how preeeetty it is……!

Now that I’ve (hopefully) forced you to stay here… let me tell you how easy this recipe is. It’s a salad, so yea, it’s pretty minimal effort. No cooking involved. We don’t even need a food processor to build a dressing. We don’t even need an oil. The only part of this recipe that takes a few minutes (and I mean just a few!) is to cut the cucumber and watermelon. You could also ball the watermelon with one of this melon baller things. That would also be super pretty and fun. But for simplicity’s sake, I went with a simple watermelon and cucumber cube.

Watermelon, Cucumber and Goat Cheese Salad

Serves people

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Ingredients

▢ 2 cups cucumber medium dice (just cut into cubes)
▢ 3 tbsp lime juice
▢ 1/8 tsp salt plus more to taste for tossing the salad
▢ 3 1/2 cups watermelon cubed into 1/2 inch pieces (or just chop it however you want, you do you)
▢ 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
▢ 1/3 cup mint thinly sliced (AKA chiffonade)
▢ 1/3 cup cilantro chopped to your texture preference
▢ 1/2 cup shallots thinly sliced (typically 1 medium to large shallot will provide 1/2 cup)
▢ 2-3 oz. goat cheese or to taste (I used about 1/2 cup)

Directions

In a large salad bowl bowl, combine 2 tbsp of lime juice and 1/8 tsp salt. Add the diced cucumbers and toss them in the mixture. Let this sit while you prep/measure the other ingredients. It will taste tart, but don't worry! This will dilute when you mix this together with the other ingredients.
Once you have measured all of your ingredients, set aside some pumpkin seeds, goat cheese, shallots, cilantro and mint for topping. Just about 1 tbsp of each ingredient.
Add the watermelon, pumpkin seeds, shallots, cilantro, mint, and half of the goat cheese to the bowl with the cucumbers. Sprinkle a little more salt and 2 more tsp of lime juice to taste and then toss until combined.
Taste to make sure the lime and salt levels are to your liking. If you want more lime, add more lime juice! If you want more salt, sprinkle 1/8 tsp at a time and continue to taste until your salty needs are met.
Serve on a platter and top with the reserved ingredients. Enjoy immediately! This will get soggy in the fridge. If you want to make ahead, you can prep the ingredients ahead of time. Make sure you are tossing them together right before serving.

The serving size depends on how you want to serve it. If you are serving about a cup as a side dish with an entrée, this will serve 4 people. But if you want to have this as an entrée, it will serve 2 people.

** I didn’t think i would vibe with this as an entrée but my husband and I just ate the whole serving as I was writing this…sooooo I wanted to give you a heads up 🙂

To dice the cucumbers:

Lay the cucumber horizontally on your cutting board. Cut the cucumber in half, crosswise, so you have two long ends of the cucumber. Take one of those halves and slice off the rounded top.

Stand the cucumber up on the largest flat side. You’re going to slice the cucumber into strips. With your knife placed 1/4-1/2 inch towards the center of the cucumber, slice down from the top of the cucumber to the bottom. Once the first slice falls, move your knife over another 1/4-1/2 inch and slice down. Repeat until you’ve sliced all of the cucumber.

Stack a 2-4 of the cucumber slices on top of each other, facing vertically in front of you. Make sure they feel sturdy on the cutting board. Place your knife 1/4-1/2 inches towards the center again and slice vertically down into equal 1/4-1/2inch strips.

Once you have strips, Rotate them and slice them perpendicularly into 1/4-1/2inch cubes. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Do what feels right to you.

Dinner Party Menu

First on the menu is an outstanding pumpkin risotto with stracciatella, crispy sage, and shiitakes. Paired with it is a maple dijon pork tenderloin (or chicken thighs). For dessert, enjoy an apple cider bread pudding with creme anglaise and caramel.

download the menu