Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad

This is one of those combos that I really wish I had made acquaintance of earlier! At least two decades earlier and I would have been so much better off ;) The moment I had this salad for the first time last summer I instantly knew that it was sheer perfection and that I had always craved for something like this.

Retracing the recipe: a friend brought it to a bbq in the countryside. She had glimpsed the salad on a German VIP dinner programm (equivalent of "come dine with me"). A quick Google search identified Nigella Lawson as the author (once more). That came with a surprise for I have rarely seen a dish by this lady that did not involve insane amounts of butter, sugar and cream ;)

However, maybe it is an ever existing dish in Greece? Just did not dare to mail my sole Greek friend to know it better (apart from food bloggers people are not amused to be confronted with food questions out of the blue).

Anyway the sweetness of watermelon, the saltiness of goat cheese and black olives and the sharpness of the onion make up an ultimately balanced, light and colorful summer dish. Ridiculously easy to make, too.

Here is the original recipe that suggests drizzling the salad with lime juice and olive oil and seasoning with pepper. But the most astonishing thing is, it doesn't hurt when you leave these steps out.

Instead you can enjoy the pure taste of each raw ingredient.

1. Cut the watermelon into bite-size cubes. As a matter of course the melon should be utmost sweet.

2. Cut the red onion into very thin slices. Cut the black olives into very slices as well.

3. Chop mint or flat parsley or both very thinly. Parsley alone is fine wheareas mint can be very dominant.

4. Tear off the feta cheese into flakes. I prefer this to big chunks.

5. Mix everything together.