Watermelon-Fennel Salad
This is a funny blog post, as one of my minor pet peeves in life is when people name something a salad when it's clearly not a salad. A salad, to me, needs to have a substantial vegetable ingredient list to be a true salad. I’m on the fence with Fruit Salad being considered a salad. Noodle salad is definitely not a salad, nor is chicken salad, or tuna salad, and don’t even get me started on seafood salad. That’s just awful.
That said, this is a recipe with four ingredients, and only one of them is a vegetable, even though technically it’s an herb. But if I called this “Magical Watermelon Concoction” I probably wouldn’t get many blog hits, so I’m settling with salad. If you have a better idea for a name, let me know.
Ranting aside, this is probably my favorite summer recipe to make. It can be an appetizer, a side, a dessert, or a snack. Prior to this recipe, I would have said you can’t improve plain watermelon in the summer, but it turns out, with a few unique flavors—fennel, black pepper, lemon juice—you get a really original taste. Bonus points, one time I made this and took it to a BBQ and someone said to me "Eating this, I feel like I'm at a bistro." I have no idea what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's a compliment. As I said, this is a magical concoction, if you will. I actually love eating this post-run as it has an almost instant cooling effect, even if it is purely psychosomatic.
Items You'll Need:
One small watermelon, cubed
Two tablespoons lemon juice
One head of fennel, finely diced
One tablespoon of black pepper
Directions:
Chop and assemble! (Notice a theme on this blog?) If you have self-control, let this hang out in the fridge for an hour for the flavors to settle.
#watermelon #salad #fennel #summer #vegan #glutenfree #sides
