Summer's Best

If you like salt on your watermelon, you'll love this salad.

Witermelon and tomatoes may seem an unlikely combination, but when you put them together in a salad or sorbet you'll be amazed at how good they taste. There's a healthful onus too. Both are high in lycopene, which helps prevent certain types of cancer.

Chef Bill Smith at Crook's Corner Cafe & Bar in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, first put his Tomatoand-Watermelon Salad on the menu about two years ago to rave reviews. "It sounds peculiar," he says, "But it's one of those things that once people taste it, they love it."

Even Bill was a little surprised at how well the two fruits married. "I think it was actually an accident," he says modestly. "We had lots of both items in the kitchen at one time, so I needed to find a use for them. I had enjoyed a watermelon gazpacho once before, and that kind of planted the seed for the salad."

We asked Bill to create another dish to share with you, and Tomato-Watermelon Sorbet is the result. Try a taste of one of the coolest concoctions we've seen in a while.

Tomato-Watermelon Sorbet

MAKES ABOUT 2 QT.

PREP: 20 MIN., STAND: 30 MIN., FREEZE: 25 MIN.

6 cups (1-inch) seeded ripe watermelon chunks

1 cup sugar

¼ tsp. salt

6 very ripe large tomatoes, quartered (about 3 ½ Ib.)

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Coarse salt (optional)

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Let stand 30 minutes.

2. Squeeze tomato quarters into a wire-mesh strainer over a 4-cup measuring cup. Place squeezed tomatoes into strainer, and firmly press with back of a spoon, pressing until liquid measures 3 cups. Discard tomato pulp in strainer.

3. Process half of tomato juice and half of watermelon mixture in a blender until smooth. Repeat with remaining tomato juice and watermelon. Stir in lemon juice. Pour mixture into freezer container of a 2 ½-qt. electric ice-cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. (Instructions and times will vary.) Sprinkle each serving with coarse salt, if desired.

Tomato-and-Watermelon Salad

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

PREP: 20 MIN., STAND: 15 MIN., CHILL: 2 HR.

This refreshing dish is adapted from Seasoned in the South: Recipes From Crook's Corner and From Home by Bill Smith.

5 cups (¾-inch) seeded watermelon cubes

1 ½ Ib. ripe tomatoes, cut into ¾-inch cubes

3 tsp. sugar

½ tsp. salt

1 small red onion, quartered and thinly sliced

½ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Romaine lettuce leaves (optional)

Cracked black pepper to taste

1. Combine watermelon and tomatoes in a large bowl; sprinkle with sugar and salt, tossing to coat. Let stand 15 minutes.

2. Stir in onion, vinegar, and oil. Cover and chill 2 hours. Serve chilled with lettuce leaves, if desired. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper to taste.

* For More Info

Summer sampler-Fast and fresh party salads: southernllving.com/july2007

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Jul 2007
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