There’s a rea­son why I can­not watch Giada de Lau­ren­tiis’ travel show on the Food Net­work – namely because it puts ideas in my head of dif­fer­ent fla­vor com­bi­na­tions and then I turn into the kitchen chemist with a the­ory of “lit­tle bit of this” and “let’s put in some more of that” and I don’t mea­sure.  Ugh!

Any­whoo – Giada hap­pened to be in the Hamp­tons on this episode and she had a water­melon salad with some ricotta salata, red onion and arugula.  Wait – did she say my favorite green – arugula?  My ears perked up, I rewound the tivo and paid atten­tion.  What a great idea – I’m not too fond of feta and, since ricotta salata was men­tioned as being sim­i­lar, I fig­ured, why the heck not.  I keep most of the ingre­di­ents in my fridge any­way – all I needed to pick up was the cheese and the mint for the 4th of July soiree.

It was a rav­ing suc­cess.  My friends went bananas for it.  I adore it and this salad has started a brand new love affair with water­melon.  Who knew that some­thing so savory could also be so refreshing.

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Water­melon Salad with Ricotta Salata

Inspired by “The Hamp­tons” episode of Giada’s Week­end Adventures

Ingre­di­ents:

• 1 small seed­less water­melon, rind removed and cubed (should be 3–4 cups or one medium size “tub” from the gro­cery store)
• I small red onion
• 1/2 cup of ricotta salata, shaved
• Juice and zest of one lemon
• 3–4 mint leaves, chopped
• 1/2 tbsp. of olive oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Arugula for serving

Direc­tions:

1. Thinly slice the red onion into half moons and put into bowl.
2. Juice the lemon directly into the red onion and let the onion mar­i­nate for 15 minutes.
3. After 15 min­utes, add the olive oil to the onion and toss.
4. Add the red onion, includ­ing the lemon juice mari­nade to the cubed watermelon.
5. Add the shaved ricotta salata, zest and mint and toss all ingre­di­ents together.
6. Salt & Pep­per to taste
7. Serve over arugula and enjoy.