1075 California Street San Francisco, CA 94108 415 474-5400 Huntington Hotel Website

Print Friendly

SUMMER WATERMELON SALAD WITH FRENCH FETA The Big 4 Restaurant at the Huntington Hotel & Nob Hill Spa San Francisco Four servings: Salad 12 cubes of seedless red watermelon, each cube measuring 2½ inches x 2½ inches 2 tablespoons French Feta Cheese, crumbled into large pieces 16 clusters of Mache lettuce (available in specialty shops including Trader Joe’s) 1/2 cup toasted, lightly salted pumpkin seeds 1 cup of picked mint leaves Sea Salt of choice Aged sherry vinaigrette (see recipe below) Note: French feta is softer and less salty that traditional feta cheese Aged Sherry Vinaigrette Yield-3 cups.  You will only need about ¼ cup for this salad. Store the rest. 1 minced shallot 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 Teaspoon minced, fresh thyme 2 Teaspoons salt Freshly ground black pepper to taste 4 ounces aged sherry vinegar 1 Teaspoon sugar Juice and zest of one orange 2 1/4 cups olive oil Whisk the above ingredients together and set aside for the salad. Assembling the salad Lay out four plates. Place three cubes of watermelon straight down the plate, leaving a 1/4 inch space in between each cube. Put 2 clusters of Mache into the two spaces between each cube of melon. Drizzle a bit of vinaigrette over the mache. Sprinkle the feta in a straight row over the watermelon cubes. Scatter pumpkin seeds down the center. Scatter 5-6 mint leaves per plate over the salad. Drizzle a touch more vinaigrette over the whole dish, and sprinkle very lightly with sea salt. Enjoy! Ask Chef Gloria Ciccarone-Nehls: How do you pick out the best watermelon? • Choose the largest and heaviest • No dents, cracks or bruises on the exterior skin • Look for a yellow spot on the outside where the sun has been shining on it in the field. If it is white or green instead of yellow, chances are that it isn’t ripe yet. • And lastly…give it a good knock. If it’s hollow, leave it!