We love watermelon salad in the summer: greens or herbs with watermelon and, sometimes, feta or goat cheese.
We’ve published several watermelon salad recipes in summers past (links are at the bottom of this article). This year we present Watermelon, Tomato and Wisconsin Burrata Salad.
Burrata is a heavenly cheese: a ball of mozzarella stuffed with ricotta. Trader Joe’s is our go-to source for great burrata. If you can’t find it, use sliced mozzarella, feta or goat cheese.
This recipe was developed by Chef Brandt Evans for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (EatWisconsinCheese.com). It serves 6-8.
Try this recipe or use your creativity to invent your own watermelon salad recipe.
WATERMELON, TOMATO AND BURRATA SALAD RECIPE
Vinaigrette Ingredients
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 tablespoon kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
Salad Ingredients
4 medium vine-ripened tomatoes
6 cups red or mixture of yellow and red watermelon
1 small English cucumber, peeled and sliced 1/3-inch thick
1 cup burrata cheese, sliced
Preparation
1. Whisk vinaigrette ingredients in small bowl. Set aside.
2. Toss salad ingredients in large bowl. Drizzle desired amount of vinaigrette over salad and gently retoss.
Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day is a “food holiday” for which one purchases cheese and “sacrifices” it to a mouse trap, in order to rid one’s home of mice.
It sounds like a 19th-century British holiday to us, but we can’t find any knowledgeable references—just greeting cards to mark the occasion (see the photo).
And the holiday doesn’t make much sense: If one’s home had unwanted mice guests, wouldn’t every day be a Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day?
(As a side tip, peanut butter works much better than cheese. Clever mice can snitch the cheese from the trap, but they have to stick around to lick the PB.)
But enough about the mice. Since we have an established holiday with only scant details—which themselves are not too relevant with today’s modern housing construction—let’s reinvent it.
Barack Obama sushi by chef Ken Kawasuma. Photo courtesy MSN Japan.
Somehow we missed this back in 2009, and only recently came across it on the MSN Japan website.
Sushi Chef Ken Kawasumi of Tokyo Sushi Academy took the 2009 championship title in Japan’s National Sushi Awards, with his sushi interpretation of President Barack Obama.
This is a sushi roll, rolled on a bamboo mat like all other maki sushi. How can anyone top it?
Obamazushi is just one of the stupefying creations of the brilliant Chef Kawasumi, whom we consider to be the Andy Warhol of edible art.
Check out “Ken Kawasumi” on Google Images. It will make you want to book a trip to Yokohama to dine at his restaurant, Sushisho Kawasumi.
In fact, Sushisho Kawasumi has replaced The Fat Duck as the restaurant to which we’d most like to win a trip. Kawasumi’s seemingly limitless repertoire extends from panda-shaped sushi to life-size sushi “paintings,” including an edible version of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.”
If you won’t be heading to Yokahama anytime soon, check out Chef Kawasumi’s books:
We liked Happy Goat caramels—made from goat’s milk—so much that we made them a Top Pick of The Week.
In our review, we suggested making caramel sauce by melting the caramels.
Now, Happy Goat has launched its own goat caramel sauce in two flavors:
Goat Milk & Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce. Made with a base of evaporated goat’s milk, it’s very buttery with good vanilla bean flavor and a touch of sea salt (9-ounce jar, $13.99).
Scotch Caramel Sauce. This inspired flavor adds 12-year single malt scotch whiskey to the Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce (10-ounce jar, $19.99). It’s a delight, but we might try and save the money by adding our own scotch to Happy Goat’s Vanilla Bean sauce (we can’t wait to make peaty, smoky Laphroig caramel sauce). If you’re not a scotch lover, substitute bourbon or rum.
