Watermelon and Goat Cheese Salad with a Verbena Infused Vinaigrette
All done.
Toasting the pistachios -- be sure to watch them, they burn quickly!
Fresh verbena smells incredible.
Instead of starting with the verbena and all of the olive oil, we opted to grind the verbena into 2T of the olive oil, and then gradually added the rest of the olive oil. Be sure to put...
After the verbna, salt, and olive oil mixture sat for an hour, we made the dressing.
The salad is layered, starting with the watermelon, then the goat cheese.
Drizzling on the dressing...
And finishing with the pistachios, salt and pepper.
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Author Notes: This is perfect mix of some of my favorite ingredients. I made it up along the way, but I knew that I definitely wanted to use watermelon, goat cheese and verbena. I wanted an interesting ingredient and to me summer involves verbena. Half of my family is from the south of France in Cannes and every summer at my grandparent's villa we would have verbena tisane fresh from the garden after dinner. We grow it here in Westchester and the tradition continues. I had never used it in a salad but it works really well and adds a great refreshing taste. Overall wonderful for a hot summer night. - loli
Food52 Review: Not everyone is lucky enough to have lemon verbena growing in the backyard the way loli does, but this recipe is worth seeking some out. The herbal, citrus-scented vinaigrette lightly coats the sweet chunks of watermelon, and goat cheese adds a savory tang. We especially love the toasty crunch of the pistachios. We find that grinding the verbena with just a few drops of oil breaks it down quickly, and then the rest of the oil is easy to incorporate. We used only 4 ounces of goat cheese, but our watermelon wasn't huge and had a particularly thick rind. - A&M - A&M
Serves 4
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Handful of Fresh Verbena Leaves
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 seedless watermelon
- 1/2 pound fresh goat cheese
- 1/2 cup unsalted pistachios
- 2 tablespoons red vine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Maldon Sea Salt
- 1 dash Fresh Pepper
- Roughly chop the verbena and place in a mortar and add the olive oil and the coarse salt. Grind for about 10 minutes and let it sit for about 1 hour at room temperature.
- Cut the watermelon into cube and place in a salad bowl in the refrigerator.
- Place the pistachios in a pan and on low heat toast them for 5 minutes.
- Remove the pistachios from the pan and chop them roughly. Set aside in a small bowl
- Crumble the goat cheese.
- Take the olive oil and verbena mix and put it through a small mixer. When completely mixed add the vinegar. Mix again.
- Take the watermelon out of the fridge, add the goat cheese, drizzle the vinaigrette, sprinkle the pistachios and finish with maldon sea salt and pepper. Mix and serve!
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Tags: dinner party, Salads, savory, seasonal, Summer, Summer
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over 2 years ago Jane Eyrehead
This was just sent to me and I grow mint and verbena and this is right up my street. Can't wait until watermelons are in season.
I am enjoying the NY Times cookbook very much--it was a holiday gift to myself!
over 2 years ago amanda
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
I'm going to try to grow verbena again this summer. Last summer, it just looked forlorn and sad. So glad you're enjoying the book!
almost 3 years ago sygyzy
Hi, we made your salad for our Bite Club last night. We mixed everything though so presentation was not as great but the flavors were spot on. Infused the olive oil with the zest of one lemon since I did not have verbena.
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almost 3 years ago Bevi
I assembled this for our pre-parade picnic, and it was fabulous! I took Amanda's suggestions and used lemon zest combined with basil leaves. The vinaigrette was refreshing and very sublime. I used the zest of one lemon, and a handful of basil. Not only was this a tasty variation on the usual watermelon on the 4th, it was a beautiful presentation.
almost 3 years ago nkarmali
Is lemon balm the same as lemon verbena - I tried to look for a plant to grow and never found one , but did find lemon balm - its growing like a weed in my garden. . And how does one make a tisane form the lemon vebena? I had a tisane at Chez Panise in Berkeley, Ca several years ago. It had a variety of herbs - but it seemed the lemon verbena was the most fragrant
almost 3 years ago Kitchen Butterfly
No, lemon balm and lemon verbana are different even though they both have lemony scents. Lemon balm leaves are 'leaf' green, with broad leaves which are slightly downy! Lemon Verbana leaves are slightly lighter green and are long and narrow, with a pointy end. I have both.....but haven't used the verbana since I got it a few weeks ago!
over 3 years ago maryvelasquez
I made this last night using a mixture of herbs from my garden. I couldn't justify buying lemon verbena when I have so much overflow here. I muddled anise hyssop leaves, let them infuse the oil and then took them out. I left the basil and mint, which I ground finely, in the dressing. The pistachios were great--I toasted them in a cast iron skillet on the grill. Thanks!
over 3 years ago amanda
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
this sounds great -- I think next year I have to grow both lemon verbena and anise hyssop on my deck.
over 3 years ago Rhonda35
Is there anything that can be substituted for the lemon verbena leaves?
over 3 years ago amanda
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
Yes -- we talked about this. We think you could substitute lemongrass or lemon zest. And we thought it would also be interesting with a combination of lemon zest and basil if you don't have access to verbena.