The best things in life are actually very simple. Sometimes just throwing together a bunch of ingredients that just get along beautifully with each other can easily outshine the most complex recipe with layers and layers of flavor put together involving a lot of technique and effort. And one of my favorite examples is buffalo mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and basil with fruity olive oil. If you have good qualilty ingredients at hand, they will just complement each other in such a perfect manner that no matter whether you throw these four ingredients into a salad or a sandwich or just toss them with plain boiled pasta, a generous sprinkle of sea salt is all you need to complete the picture. This watermelon and feta salad is another example of brilliance in simplicity.

Whenever I think refreshment in summers, watermelon just comes naturally ... sweet, juicy, crisp .... its the perfect fruit to beat the heat. Eaten as is or blended into a chilled juice or smoothie, it cools deep within. For me the only condition is that the fruit needs to be chilled before consumption. Feta cheese is another ingredient that packs a punch even in small amounts. I am less fond of the ever popular Greek feta. The sharpness and saltiness of this cheese is sometimes a bit overwhelming for my taste. I prefer Danish feta or other European feta varieties which are usually made with cow's milk and are slightly milder cousins of the Greek version. I also find this Feta is better accepted by a wider variety of guests.

Basil, of course needs no introduction or explanation. Basil is basil ..... most of my Italian recipes feel incomplete without it. Fresh basil is what lifts a normal pasta dish from ordinary to extraordinary. A few leaves loosely torn by hand add wonderful freshness and flavor to any pasta or pizza. Add it to bruschetta or salads, it makes everything taste so much better. And basil adds the much needed color and freshness to this salad as well. It gives a wonderful contrast to the watermelon and feta, adding a different dimension to the dish ..... lemony and peppery at the same time.

Lastly I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of sea salt in this dish. If you don't have sea salt, it is better to add more of the salty feta cheese than using regular table salt as it will add a blanket saltiness to the dish. Also sea salt is best added at the very end. Preferably to the individual servings in plates. That will be the best way to enjoy this dish. Good quality extra virgin olive oil is needed in very small quantities but adds balance to the entire dish.

Ingredients:

2 cups Fresh Watermelon - cut into cubes/triangles/scooped with a melon baller and chilled in a refrigerator

1/4 cup Feta Cheese crumbled

8-10 Basil Leaves

1 teaspoon extra virgin oilve oil

Sea salt to taste

Method:

Put the watermelon pieces in a bowl. Sprinkle feta cheese and basil leaves on top. Drizzle with olive oil. Serve chilled. Sprinkle coarse sea salt just before serving.