Watermelon and Tomato Salad

 

Watermelon and tomato: the taste of summer

I made this watermelon and tomato salad with feta, mint and pistachios for my very first blog post.

It’s a firm favourite with the kids, quick and easy to make, and perfect for a crowd.

In fact, this is a salad that they often pull together themselves. I’ll be serving this on Christmas Day!

Try to use as many different tomatoes as you can – red, green, yellow –  and different sizes, too.

Did you know that there are more than 10, 000 varieties of tomatoes worldwide?

Serve the watermelon and tomato salad with wedges of lime on the platter so people can squirt it over the top just before tucking in.

Popular tomato varieties grown in Australia

Cherry tomatoes  are regarded as one of the easiest tomato varieties to gr0w. With a sweet flavour, they can be found in red, orange, yellow and even shades almost black.

Clarence truss tomatoes grow on vines up to 3 metres which produce small to medium sized, round, juicy and sweet fruit in late spring and summer.

Tommy toes tomatoes have apricot sized, delicious bright red fruit.

Grape tomatoes have a long oblong shape and thicker skin than cherry tomatoes. They contain more fibre and have a longer fridge life.

Red currant tomatoes are native to Ecuador and Peru. They’re sweet and tart, great for preserves and relishes. They are the smallest of all the tomato types.

Oxheart tomatoes are large, with an irregular shape that looks a little like an animal’s heart.

They’re delicious served thickly sliced, seasoned, drizzled with olive oil and fresh herbs such as basil or thyme.

Golden jubilee tomatoes look similar to oxhearts, but they’re bright yellow.

Yellow pear tomatoes are sweet and tangy. They’re great for pickling and relishes.

The origin of feta cheese

Feta is the oldest recorded cheese in history, first mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey, written in the 8th century BC.

During the Byzantine era, feta was known as prosphatos, meaning fresh or recent.

However, the name feta did not appear until the 17th century.

The name means “slice” in Greek, and it most likely comes from the practice of cutting the cheese into pieces for storage and serving.

Feta has a tangy and salty flavour and can range from soft to semi-hard.

Most supermarket feta is sold as blocks or chunks in brine, in packs or tubs. The Greeks were the first to make feta, but these days variations of feta are made all over the world.

Varieties of feta

There are many different varieties of feta available in supermarkets.

Traditional Greek feta is made with at least 70% sheep’s milk, with goat’s milk often making up the other 30%. It’s salty and tangy, with a dry and crumbly texture dry and crumbly.

Danish feta is made from cow’s milk. It has a milder, creamier texture.

Traditional Bulgarian feta is traditionally made with sheep’s milk and a yoghurt culture, so it has a particularly tangy taste.

Australian feta is usually made from cow’s milk. It tends to be less salty than Greek feta.Marinated feta

Feta marinated in oil is often flavoured with herbs, spices or lemon zest.

More tomato salad recipes

If you like the watermelon and tomato salad, you might like to try these salad recipes:

Tomato and basil salad with strawberry balsamic dressing

Tomato and olive salad with roasted onions and thyme

 

Best wishes,

Amanda

PS: If you’ve tried this watermelon and tomato salad with feta, mint and pistachios or any other recipe from At Amanda’s Table, let me know how it turned out in the comments below.

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