Happy Mother’s Day!

    

It’s always a happy day when I’m blogging, which has been way too infrequent. The thing I’ve found is that the longer I don’t blog…the longer I don’t blog. I’ve got to put an end to that!

Speaking of mothers, the other day I im’ed (g-chatted, messaged…WHATEVER) BOTH of my kids (separately) and asked them to guess what I was eating at that moment. (It was probably 5 pm or so.)

My son’s guesses (with no hints): Pizza, Pork Chops, Ice Cream, Chicken and Vegetables or Rice.

My daughter’s guesses (also with no hints): Pig Balls, Hot Dogs, Rhubarb Pie or Clay.

I said NO, I was eating Grilled Watermelon and Haloumi (grilled too) with fresh thyme, olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.

My son asked why he would ever have guessed that. My daughter asked WHY I was eating that and also WHAT was it?

The reason was that I saw this picture on Pinterest. Actually, I can’t take credit for even finding it. It came to me in an email. I thought it was so amazing that I ran out to buy a watermelon. The cheese in the picture was mozzarella, but I thought haloumi would be much more delicious grilled. (I actually broiled the whole thing, but GRILLED sounds so much better. Plus any kid who guesses her mother is eating pig balls or CLAY probably isn’t that concerned with the accuracy of the cooking method.)

Anyway, I tried to track down the recipe from the picture and all I could find was a photo of the recipe (somewhat cut-off) in an Australian magazine. I think I got the basics, though.

I had never thought to grill watermelon, especially cut into wedges with the rind still on, but, apparently, I was the only one. There are gazillions of Grilled Watermelon recipes all over the place. Look at all the pretty pictures on Pinterest.  

The flavor is pretty delicious. The salty, chewy grilled broiled cheese is a perfect foil for the soft, sweet watermelon, and the pepper and olive oil with thyme makes the watermelon nicely savory. This would be a fun, easy, unusual starter for a barbecue or even to serve with margaritas to get a party started.  

By the way, after I made my way through quite a few of these watermelon triangles (that’s not as bad as it sounds - it WAS a baby melon), I realized I had totally forgotten the pistachios. So I toasted a few, chopped them and tried them on a piece. They were totally yummy, but I didn’t mind the watermelon without them either. 

Grilled (but really broiled) Watermelon And Haloumi With Fresh Thyme

(And Pistachios, if you remember)

1/2 small watermelon, cut in half lengthwise

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 tablespoons good olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

12 slices of haloumi, (drain the haloumi first)

optional: 1/2 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped

Cut the watermelon half in half lengthwise, so you have two quarters of the watermelon. 

Place one of the cut sides of the watermelon down on the board and slice 6 not-thin, but not thick, slices from each quarter, discarding the ends. 

Place the watermelon triangles on a baking sheet covered with foil.

Strip the thyme leaves from the branches and stir 2/3's of them into the olive oil. Brush the tops of the watermelon with the oil and top each with a slice of haloumi. Sprinkle over the nuts, if using. Brush on a bit more oil and grind fresh black pepper over the top of each watermelon piece. 

 

 

Place under the broiler on the shelf closest to the top and broil for 2 minutes. Take a good look at what’s happening and continue to broil for another 1½ to 2 minutes until the cheese is browned, watching it all the time.

Place on a platter and sprinkle over the rest of the fresh thyme. Serve at once. The next day make people guess what in the world you were eating the day before.