MADDIE DAY here. Here being Japan, as I am on the penultimate day of a two-week stay and a 13-day cruise around southern Japan. It's been a marvelous trip, and I'll have lots of recipes to share with you over the next month or two.
Today I'll share this simple and delicious watermelon salad that includes all the tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami.
The friend I'm traveling with and I signed up for a Pan-Asian cooking class held on the cruise two days ago.
The chef and his helpers were fabulous, and we got copies of the recipes to bring home with us.
Shown below is our chef Karlis, who was a great teacher, with all the dishes we prepared.
And yes, we also sipped a Rosé wine, sake, prosecco, beer, and an aperitif. My kind of cooking class!
But now for the watermelon salad, which includes duck confit, watermelon, toasted cashews, fresh herbs, and lime juice. I adapted the recipe from the one provided by the Oceania Cruises Culinary Center.
Duck Confit and Watermelon Salad
Ingredients
(Note: the ingredients shown in the photo were for a single serving, and the honey is not included.)
2 each confit duck legs and thighs (look for these at your grocer, Whole Foods, a specialty market, or online)
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
4 mint leaves
4 basil leaves
8 cilantro leaves (or substitute parsley if you don't like cilantro)
4 cups small watermelon cubes
1/4 cup toasted cashews
1 lime, quartered
Chili-infused honey thinned with water in a 4:1 ratio
Directions
Pull the meat from the duck and shred into small bite-sized pieces. Combine the duck and hoisin sauce and marinate for at least an hour.
Crush the cashews by pressing with a flat bottomed bowl or a rolling pin. Chiffonade (slice into thin ribbons) the herbs.
Serving methods:
A: Add herbs and marinated duck to watermelon cubes and gently toss. Serve in four glass bowls, top with cashews, and drizzle with lime juice and honey.
B: In four parfait glasses, layer 1/3 each watermelon, marinated duck, herbs, and cashews. Squeeze on a little lime juice and drizzle with honey.
Repeat twice more until all ingredients are used. Garnish with the lime wedge.
Either method yields a salad that surprised with me with how much more delicious these flavors are when combined.
I promise you will love this salad, especially if you make it in the summer when watermelons and herbs are ripe from your garden or local farms.
Readers: have you been surprised by a combination of flavors? What's your favorite watermelon salad recipe?
🍉🦆🥗
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Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.
