Melon Salad

I know this salad doesn't contain chorizo or any other fried, crispy morsels that I usually load my salads up with. I bet your eyes went straight up to the title when you realised there was no bacon in this dish. Yes, this is Milk and Honey, and no I haven't lost my identity mind.  Strangely enough, this is one of my favourite salads. Yes, it's true. I can eat a whole vat full of it and not even miss the fried-till-caremalised sausage or bacon. Is this the new me? Some one who doesn't baconise every dish possible? Some one on a post-Christmas health kick? I don't think so, because after I ate this healthful salad, I ate my weight in brownies.



Melon Salad
from Rick Stein's French Odyssey
Serves 4

For the Salad:
1/2 ripe, rock melon
1 Lebanese cucumber
3 medium tomatoes (the best quality you can get), peeled
100g goat's cheese
1 tablespoon finely shredded mint

For the Dressing:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Pinch caster sugar
Sea slat flakes and coarsely ground black pepper

Make the Dressing:
Whisk the oil, vinegar and sugar together in a small bowl. Add the sea salt and pepper to taste, whisk again and set aside.

Make the Salad:
Scoop the seeds out of the melon with a big spoon, cut the skin away and slice it into thin wedges.

Peel the cucumber and slice on the diagonal into 3mm thick slices.

Slice the tomatoes into 3mm thick slices.

Arrange the melon over the base of a large serving platter and cover with the slices of cucumber and tomatoes. Crumble the goat's cheese into small pieces over the top of the salad, and then scatter the mint over the lot. Spoon over the dressing and serve straight away.