This flavourful savoury zesty, yet sweet, watermelon and tomato salad is what I imagine summer to be like. It’s also prepared in a couple of minutes with fresh ingredients!
When summer comes, I tend to opt for lighter recipes which don’t require the use of an oven or stove. This watermelon and tomato salad has become a favourite now! By using all fresh seasonal fruits and herbs, you can create a perfect salad to enjoy as a side or on your own (guilty …that’s what I did!).
This might be considered a risky salad, as fruit in salads is still not that highly accepted. However, technically here we are actually doing a fruit salad with a salty touch, as both the watermelon and tomatoes are fruit. I have been seeing plenty of Greek and Cypriots eating watermelon in a savoury way. I have to be honest, at first I was a bit doubtful. In fact, even though in Malta we eat watermelons by the large, it’s not customary for us to use it in a recipe this way. However, after taking my first bite of a halloumi and watermelon salad, I fell in love with this combination of flavours and began experimenting with other foods that I liked.
Let it rest!
For this salad, to make the flavours stand out more and to give it that extra touch, you need to season your watermelon and tomatoes ahead of time and let them rest. What I do is to season my fruits with a good amount of good salt and let it rest for about 15 or 20 minutes. The salt, apart from giving that saltiness, it will help the fruits to release more of their flavour. Salted watermelon is literally amazing! Once they are done, you can start assembling the salad.
Cheese it up
For this salad I have decided to use Burrata cheese. This cheese is delicate, creamy and has a sweet flavour. I have opted for Burrata as I wanted a salad that had a sweet aroma overall, so that I can add a salty dressing. However, you can use any cheese you fancy. Feta and halloumi work wonderfully with watermelon and tomatoes! Although, if using any of these cheeses, I would recommend to either ditch the anchovy dressing and use just olive oil, or else to use it lightly.
Anchovy dressing
To finish off my salad, I wanted something salty with that umami flavour! For this reason, I created an anchovy basil dressing. This hassle free dressing really upped the overall taste of the salad. You can also add some anchovy fillets straight to the salad instead, they will make a nice touch! Lastly, I finished everything with a good extra drizzle of olive oil (never enough!) and zest from a lemon for some extra freshness.
Watermelon and Tomato Salad with Burrata
Ingredients
- 200 g watermelon deseeded and cubed
- 200 g tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
- 2 burrata cheese
- handful of basil
- 6 anchovy fillets
- zest of a lemon
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp maldon salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Clean and cube the watermelon and place it into a large bowl. Cube the tomatoes or slice the cherry tomatoes and add to the bowl.
- Season generously the watermelon and tomatoes with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Set aside and let them rest for about 15 minutes.
- In the meantime take out your burrata and let it come to room temperature.
- Chop the anchovies until they have a paste like consistency. Mix the anchovies, olive oil and some chopped basil together. Set aside.
- Assemble everything by placing the watermelon and tomatoes on a serving plate, break the burrata on top. Drizzle everything with the anchovy dressing and sprinkle the zest of lemon together with some extra salt.
- Serve immediately!
If you have any questions, feedback or comments on this recipe, please leave a comment below. Please also rate this recipe by double clicking on the stars below. If you did make this recipe, tag @apronandwhisk and hashtag #apronandwhisk, as I’m curious to see what you create!
Don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list down below so to receive the recipe updates straight to your mailbox!
Leave a Reply