Watermelon Gazpacho With Chile and Feta Cheese

Watermelon Gazpacho With Chile and Feta CheeseThat’s Usin’ Your Melon!
After an extended vacation and a lot of driving, we’re back home and I am looking for some good “real” food. It can be fun eating out, but eventually I get tired of shouting in a clown’s mouth and want to have a normal, family dinner around our kitchen table. I know. How very Norman Rockwell…

I gotta say, I’m pretty tired. So as much as I want a real meal, I also want it to be easy and perfect for the warm weather. Luckily, I have a recipe that covers both.

Last month at our Tyler Florence cookbook dinner, one of the recipes I went crazy for was the Watermelon Gazpacho with Chile and Feta Cheese. Just so you know, I don’t like watermelon—which makes my love of this recipe weird. But it’s good…really good. And it is made almost entirely in the blender. Nothing is easier than that. Add to that the fact that my tomatoes are abundant and melons are at the peak of their season, and you just can’t go wrong with this one. 

Watermelon Gazpacho With Chile and Feta Cheese
Recipe adapted from Tyler’s Ultimate by Tyler Florence
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
3 cups coarsely chopped fresh tomatoes (about 6 large)
3 cups cubed and seeded fresh watermelon (about 8 ounces)
1 serrano chile
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill, plus more for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions
Put the tomatoes with the watermelon and chile in a blender and purée. Pour in the red wine vinegar and olive oil and pulse to blend. Fold in the onion, cucumber, and minced dill and season with salt and pepper.

Pour the gazpacho into small glasses and sprinkle with the feta and dill sprigs. Serve at room temperature.

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