Watermelon and arugula salad with feta and tapenade

By SMSchreiber

Ingredients

• For the tapenade:
• INGREDIENTS
• • 1 cup pitted Nicoise olives (from about 2 1/2 ounces pitted olives), or 4 ounces unpitted olives
• • 2 (preferably salt-packed) roughly chopped anchovy fillets, soaked, drained, and patted dry
• • 2 teaspoons capers, rinsed and drained
• • 2 small garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• • 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• • 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• • 1 tablespoon cognac (optional)
• • Black pepper in a mill
• For the salad:
• • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• • 1/2 tablespoon honey
• • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• • Kosher salt
• • Black pepper in a mill
• • About 3 pounds seedless watermelon, rind removed, cut into 1-inch cubes
• • 4 cups loosely packed arugula (about 2 ounces arugula), tough stems removed, well washed in several changes of cold water and spun dry
• • 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese feta (from about 3 ounces cheese)

Preparation

Step 1

DIRECTIONS

Tapenade
Put the olives, anchovies, capers, garlic, and orange zest in a blender. With the motor running, add the oil in a thin stream, stopping to scrape the sides down periodically with a rubber spatula if necessary. Continue to puree until mostly smooth but a bit pulpy.

Transfer the tapenade to a container, stir in the cognac, if using, and season with 4 grinds of pepper, or to taste. Set aside.

Salad
Make the vinaigrette: Put the lime juice, honey, and olive oil in a mixing bowl and whisk them together. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and about 6 grinds of black pepper. Add the tapenade to the bowl and stir it into the vinaigrette.

Divide the watermelon cubes among 4 chilled salad plates. Dress the arugula with the vinaigrette and divide among the plates, piling it atop the watermelon. Scatter some crumbled cheese over each salad. Serve.
TIPS

Variation: Use sheep’s-milk or “regular” feta in place of the goat cheese feta.

Embellishment: To make tapenade creamier and more spreadable, add 1 tablespoon mayonnaise to this recipe. For a richer version that achieves the same result, add an egg yolk to the food processor along with the anchovies when making the tapenade.

The olives in this recipe may be substituted with whatever olives you like, such as Kalamata or Picholine.