dash and bella: herbs

It could be argued that there would be no Dash and Bella blog without my Bella. But last month she read through the past ten posts and realized I had been cooking so much more with Dash. You could see that she was upset. So as of two weeks ago, she came back into the kitchen with a few changes. She has embraced vegetarianism AND Taylor Swift. Now we sing while we cook:

"But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts, she's cheer captain, and I'm on the bleachers. Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here all the time."

Dash is so sick of the song that it makes him cry. Tears gush down his face and he screams, "I hate Taylor Swift!"

Poor little Dash. He's also sick of Bella's Watermelon Salad with Ricotta Salata, Almonds, and Herbs. I am not. I think it would be a super refreshing dish for those of you on the East Coast who are actually experiencing a summer. Have I mentioned the Berkeley fog?

Bella busted out some phenomenal knife skills. I think she has been practicing behind my back.

She got a little spacey while grating the cheese. Taylor Swift does that to her.

But she snapped out of it when Dash tried to drink the salad dressing. She told him to BACK OFF.

Here's a version of Bella's salad that I made with lots of pickled onions, red and yellow watermelon, and extra herbs.

Here are a few other variations:
1. Use pine nuts instead of almonds.
2. Use feta or goat cheese instead of ricotta salata. Crumble the cheese over the top so it doesn't melt too much into the salad.
3. Add peeled and sliced peaches.
4. Add avocado and white beans.
5. Add garlic and mustard to the dressing.
6. Add peeled and sliced cucumber.
7. Replace lemon and herbs with cilantro, and chilies (like a salsa).

WATERMELON SALAD WITH RICOTTA SALATA, ALMONDS, AND HERBS

printable recipe

See variations above. I loved this salad with cucumber.

Very important: Don't make this salad ahead of time because you won't believe how much juice comes out of the watermelon. Serve right away. Use a slotted spoon if you're putting it on a plate with something else. Or, serve it in a bowl with all the juice. Dip buttered bread into the juice after you finish the salad.

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon white wine or champagne vinegar

4-6 tablespoons olive oil

1 sweet onion, thinly sliced or diced

about 4 cups cubed, de-seeded watermelon
about 1/2 cup ricotta salata (feta is a good alternative)

1/2 cup chopped herbs (any combination of parsley, mint, or basil)

1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted and lightly browned

Combine lemon juice, vinegar, and salt. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Taste. Make sure it's nice and tart because the watermelon require lots of tang. Place onions in the dressing, mix to coat well, and set aside for 10 minutes. Place watermelon in a large bowl. Using a fork, remove onions from the dressing and combine them with the watermelon. Gently mix. Slowly drizzle over some dressing and most of the herbs. Gently mix. Taste for seasoning. Add more dressing if needed. Use a fork to crumble the ricotta salata over the top. Sprinkle on the almonds. Add some more herbs. Serve immediately.

This Saturday, August 14th, is my first blogiversary. Yes, it's a word. So for the entire week I'm going to dedicate posts to the people who have helped this blog grow.

This first post goes out to Dash. He keeps me running, sweating, chopping, screaming, breathing, and most of all COOKING. A few weeks ago he was having an epic meltdown as I was trying to leave the house. I couldn't console him. He turned to me and said, "Mama, I just want to cook with you. I want you to stay home so we can cook together." I nodded okay. He smiled. I cried.

Here's Dash pretending that it's summer. We've been fogged in for almost two months now in Berkeley. "Mama, I love summer." Dude, a bowl of apricots does not equal summer.

Dash and I made herb salt together a few weeks ago. No recipe needed. Just shove some fresh herbs down into some salt and close the jar. You can chop the herbs up a bit if you want but it's not necessary. The oils in the fresh herbs make a potent herb salt within a few days. We had great success with fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme. Just don't use fresh basil or parsley because (unless dried) they will turn brown. Dash got so excited making herb salt that we kept doing it until we used up all the salt in the house.