Wowee (oo là) . . . I’ve think I’ve outdone myself as far as the watermelon salads are going. This one is a keeper. Just a few days ago I prepared and served this salad to a very gastronomically refined French family and their several American guests (including my very non-gastronomically refined brother). I was pleased to see it disappear rather quickly, on all sides.

You might think the green onions and the roquefort would contrast unpleasantly with the delicate watermelon flavor, but this is not the case. They harmonize quite nicely, each flavor distinctly present and combining to make a really wonderful salty/sweet/tangy salad. The addition of the yellow cherry tomatoes was a genius stroke I have to credit to the mother of the family; I had always thought that visually a tomato-watermelon salad was lacking, since it’s red on red, but here the bright yellow gives a nice pop  that makes the white-grey roquefort pieces and green onions and parsley more attractive as well.

Roquefort provides our cheesy savory-sharpness, but any kind of bleu cheese would work, including gorgonzola. Sharper and saltier is more interesting than not. The original recipe for this salad comes from Mark Bittman (the king of all simple things made delicious), but I made some minor changes, including tweaking the dressing to sharpen it up with ginger-infused vinegar and lemon olive oil.

Watermelon Tomato Salad with Roquefort

serves 4-6, adapted from Mark Bittman

• 2 1/2 cups  seedless watermelon (about one quarter of a whole watermelon), cut in 1-inch cubes or balls (cut over a bowl to catch the juice and reserve it)
• 1 1/2 cups red and yellow cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 1/2 cup finely diced or crumbled Roquefort bleu cheese
• 1/2 cup minced scallions
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons lemon-infused extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons ginger-infused vinegar
• 1/2 cup parsley, roughly chopped

1.  Combine the watermelon, tomato, Roquefort, scallions and salt in a bowl.
2.  Whisk or blend together about 2 tablespoons of the watermelon juice, oil, and vinegar. To serve, dress the salad with this mixture and garnish with parsley. Do not refrigerate and serve within 30 minutes.

Dramamine