Watermelon Burrata Salad - #recipe by @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Mr. Right loves watermelon. Mint loves our garden. And when I discovered that our small town grocery store was now carrying burrata, the gooey, yummy, mozzarella-like cheese that I love, I thought back to some salad combos we’d enjoyed and came up with this simple version. 

Naturally, we loved it. 

If you wanted to serve this as a side salad for four, cut the burrata in 4 pieces. Remember it can be a bit slippery—the slotted spoon is your friend!

Consider it a no-recipe recipe, perfect for hot summer days. 

Watermelon Burrata Salad 

2 cups mixed greens, more or less 

2 cups cubed watermelon

one burrata ball, drained

extra virgin olive oil

balsamic vinegar

black pepper or a pepper mix, freshly ground

fresh mint (use the smallest, most tender leaves) 

Rinse the greens and place them in your salad serving bowls or plates. If you like an herby salad, add some fresh mint. Top with cubed watermelon. Carefully cut the burrata and place on the melon. Drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar. Twist on a few grinds of pepper and garnish with fresh mint, cut or torn. Serve immediately. 

Serves 2. 

Note: f you’d prefer a thicker balsamic, pour about half a cup of balsamic vinegar into a small pan. Over medium heat, bring to just a bubble. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10-15 minutes, until thickened and reduced by about half. 

PEPPERMINT BARKED: A Spice Shop Mystery (now out from Seventh St. Books in paperback and e-book; audio on the way!)

From the cover: 

A Dickens of a Christmas turns deadly…

As the holiday season lights up Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece’s beloved Spice Shop is brimming with cinnamon, nutmeg, and shoppers eager to stuff their stockings. Add to the mix a tasty staff competition—a peppermint bark-off—along with Victorian costumes for this year’s Dickensian Christmas theme, and Pepper almost forgets to be nervous about meeting her fisherman boyfriend’s brother for the first time.

But when a young woman working in her friend Vinny’s wine shop is brutally assaulted, costumed revelers and holiday cheer are the last things on Pepper’s mind. Who would want to hurt Beth? Or were they looking for Vinny instead?

The vicious attack upsets everyone at Pike Place, but none more than Pepper’s own employee, Matt Kemp. At first, Pepper is baffled by his reaction, but his clandestine connection to Beth could hold the key to the assailant’s motive. Or perhaps it’s Vinny’s ex-wife who knows more than she’s letting on . . . and what about the mysterious top-hatted man with whom Pepper saw Beth arguing that morning?

As the secrets of the market come to light, long-held grudges, family ties, and hidden plans only further obscure the truth. Is it a ghost of the past rattling its chains, or a contemporary Scrooge with more earthly motives? As Pepper chases down a killer, someone is chasing her, and in the end, the storied market itself may hold the final, deadly clue.

A cozy holiday mystery full of culinary delights and a rich cast of characters, the sixth installment in the Spice Shop Mystery series will keep you turning the page . . . and reaching for another piece of peppermint bark. 

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries, and the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories. Death al Dente, the first Food Lovers' Village Mystery, won Best First Novel in 2013, following her 2011 win in Best Nonfiction. Her first historical short story, "All God's Sparrows," won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. Peppermint Barked, her 6th Spice Shop mystery, will appear in July 2022, and Blind Faith, her second standalone suspense novel (written as Alicia Beckman), will release in October 2022. 

A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

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