The day was July 10, 2016. Hillary was our future. Watermelon Burrata Salad was our lunch.

Only one of those things was true!

When I look through old blog posts, I love reading them and being like, “Wow if I only knew…”

And, “Lol I was so funny, what happened?”

And, “Wait, why was I so snatched?”

I didn’t really have a particularly riveting reason to begin blogging back in 2014. It was just a thing people were doing, and I thought it sounded like fun. But now that I’ve got almost … Jesus Christ, 10 years … of blog posts to look through, I’m so glad I was documenting so many of my thoughts and feelings so publicly for the Internet. It’s fun to see the different phases the blog (and our lives) had and how it’s morphed and evolved and molted over the years. I’m proud of it all, even the periods that aren’t my favorite.

This is my long way of telling you we were brainstorming for a delicious watermelon recipe and remembered we already had one we loved on the blog. Years ago, we made a watermelon and burrata salad with mint and a balsamic dressing, and my goodness it was good. A watermelon “caprese” of sorts. I thought it would be fun to recreate that recipe but to bring it a bit more in line with a classic caprese.

We’re still using watermelon in place of tomato, but we’re sticking to good ole mozzarella, fresh basil, and a simple dressing of drizzled olive oil and vinegar and salt and pepper.

The result is a salad that really just refuses the sweet and savory binary, carving a new path for itself while delighting every last taste bud. It should take you like 20 minutes from start to finish, and I highly recommend making it just before you serve it as the appearance goes downhill pretty quickly.

See the full recipe below and let me know if you try it :)

Watermelon Caprese Salad

Takes 20 Minutes | Serves 4

A quarter of a large watermelon
2 8 oz-balls fresh mozzarella
1 cup fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
⅓ cup quality olive oil
¼ cup quality balsamic vinegar
Pinch salt and pepper
Homemade croutons (optional, note below)

Cut your watermelon into ½-inch thick slices — see photo for reference — and then use a biscuit cutter (or a rocks glass if you don’t have a biscuit cutter) to cut out circles resembling tomato slices. You’ll want to get about 8-12 full rounds. Set them on a cutting board and lightly salt both sides.

Slice your mozzarella into ⅓-inch thick slices and begin arranging your serving platter, starting with a watermelon slice, followed by mozzarella, followed by one large or two small fresh basil leaves, and repeat until everything is used up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the vinegar first, followed by the olive oil. Garnish with extra basil and serve immediately.

Notes:
Croutons — to make our croutons, we cube half a baguette or really any crusty bread, toss it in enough olive oil to thoroughly coat it, sprinkle on salt, and bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees, turning halfway through. Once they’re golden brown (maybe slightly charred in spots) they’re done!