red & pink fruit salad

with watermelon, grape & strawberry

Watermelon; a food best served simply, cut into wedges, preferably on the hottest day of the year. A food that drips childhood nostalgia; the juice running down your chin, the lingering fresh taste it leaves in your mouth. Back before seedless watermelons were ubiquitous, the act of spitting out seeds as you ate was an art form. It’s as much about the temperature and the texture as it is about the flavour. I’ve never gotten into recipes involving watermelon; they usually involve feta and mint, and I haven’t been convinced that any of them can beat plain, fresh wedges. 

That brings me to this week’s recipe: fruit salad. Fruit salad can be supremely disappointing; all of the innumerable swim team potlucks I went to growing up featured sad tupperwares of chopped apple, banana and orange segments, the banana flavour overpowering all else.

I happened upon this combination by accident, on a humid London summer morning, rifling through the furthest corners of the fridge to find the bits of fruit that needed eating. Half a watermelon. Some strawberries about to turn the corner to overripe. A picked over bunch of red grapes, listless in their plastic punnet, as if they knew they’d been forgotten. Lo and behold, the resulting combination was both the best fruit salad I’d ever tasted and a justifiable alternative to serving watermelon as is. Cubed watermelon adds crunch, strawberries add sweetness and the grapes add some springy bite. A sprinkle of salt and squeeze of lime pull things away from being too sweet. Pistachios add some chew and fat. 

Summer is rapidly coming to a close, but here in London the sun is still shining and we’re enjoying the last few days as much as we can. Sitting down to a bowl of this in the waning rays of summer might just carry you into autumn smoothly.

Ingredients

• ½ large watermelon (or a whole small watermelon) - 1 inch square cubes

• 400 grams strawberries - quartered (for very large ones, quartered and then halved lengthwise)

• 400 grams red grapes - quartered

• 1 lime

• 40 grams pistachios

• Greek yoghurt and flaky salt, for serving.

Method

1. Cut watermelon in half. Place cut side down on cutting board; remove rind, always making sure to point the blade of your knife away from you/downwards.

2. Slice into 1 inch wide strips; then cut into cubes, trying to make them as uniform in size and shape as possible. Place in a large serving bowl.

3. Remove stems from strawberries. Slice in half and then into quarters lengthwise. Add to bowl with watermelon.

4. Remove grapes from stems. Slice in half and then into quarters lengthwise. Add to bowl.

5. Squeeze lime directly into the bowl with fruit; toss to combine.

6. Sprinkle pistachios over the top (if making ahead of time, wait to add the pistachios until just before serving so that they do not become soggy).

7. Serve with greek yoghurt and a sprinkle of flaky salt.