Watermelon, along with lobster and tomatoes, forms the holy trinity of late summer foods. Every August, we briefly consider dining only on the green striped fruit. After all, it’s crisp, refreshing and sweet. What more could you want in the hottest month of the year? Like Mary Poppins, watermelon is practically perfect in every way in its natural state and equally excellent when dressed up a little bit. The recipe for watermelon steak in yesterday’s Globe got us wondering where in the Hub we could get our hands on some savory watermelon dishes. Aside from 51 Lincoln, which contributed the recipe, here are three of your best options.
•Watermelon is a sweet surprise in Avila’s hydro watercress salad. The fruit pairs beautifully with the ‘cress, olives, feta and Cepa Vieja vinaigrette. Also, “watercress watermelon” is fun to say. Just try it.
•The dish at Avila sounds fantastic, but leave it to Clio to raise the stakes. Instead of a watermelon salad, Ken Oringer’s flagship serves up a “composed abstract of yellow and red watermelon” drizzled with liquid feta (!), calaminth (an amazing herb also called “mountain mint” that makes everything taste better), and avocado. Decadent!
•Chilled soups just missed making our summer holy trinity (we do love us some gazpacho), so we’re very appreciative that L’Espalier decided to create a chilled watermelon soup. The divine liquid is festooned with mint and cucumber and is pretty much a perfect storm of refreshment.
Watermelon Steak [Boston Globe]
51 Lincoln [Official Site]
Avila [Official Site]
Clio [Official Site]
L’Espalier [Official Site]
