Much of the so-called cooking I do in summer is just assembling. Slice up whatever produce is on hand, add something creamy or salty for texture and tang, then dress it all with olive oil and a handful of herbs. Total time spent: 20 minutes. Pleasure received: an entire evening’s worth. Repeat for the whole month of August.
For hot-weather meals such as these, the classics never fail. Tomatoes with mozzarella, basil, maybe a few peaches; cucumbers with red onions, olives or capers; melon with feta and a few leaves of mint.
When the heat becomes especially oppressive, my family is happy to eat one of these light salads for dinner and call it a night. Add a little bread to catch the juices, and pair it with a spritz or cold white wine to round out the meal.
But there are nights when something more substantial is required — maybe people are coming over, or the temperature dropped enough to restore our appetites.
My current strategy for turning almost any summer salad into a robust meal is to throw some quickly grilled or broiled shrimp on top. This works with tomatoes and mozzarella, and it works with cucumbers and onions. But it’s especially wonderful with melon and feta in this speedy, weeknight-friendly recipe.
Often when I cook shrimp, they’re the sweetest, mellowest elements on the plate, sharpened by the likes of garlic and lemon. But here, next to the melon, they taste more savory, their briny succulence and some char from the grill a contrast to the juicy cubes of melon (any kind will do: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew or a combination for the more colorful salad).
Chunks of creamy, pungent feta liven the whole thing up. Here’s a tip for using feta. Taste it right out of the package; if it’s too salty and intense, let it soak in some fresh water for an hour or two. This really tones it down.
There aren’t a lot of other ingredients here, just slivers of chile for heat, the grated zest and juice of a couple of floral-scented limes for acidity and some toasted coriander for crunch. It’s a simple yet powerful mix.
And if applying heat to anything just seems out of the question, you can substitute precooked shrimp here, marinating them in the chile-lime mixture for a half-hour or so. It’s an assembled summer dinner, in a very deluxe way.
Grilled Shrimp Salad With Melon and Feta
By Melissa Clark
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 30 minutes
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 limes
2 garlic cloves
1 Fresno chile, serrano or other fresh chile pepper, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound cleaned extra-large shrimp
1 pound cubed melon (about 4 cups; any kind, or a combination)
1 small cucumber, preferably Persian or kirby, thinly sliced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion or shallot
1/3 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup chopped soft herbs, such as mint, basil or cilantro, plus more for garnish
METHOD:
1. Light a charcoal or gas grill or heat the broiler. Make the fire as hot as it will get, and if using a broiler, put the rack close to the heat source.
2. While the grill heats up, lightly crack the coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle, or with the side of a knife on a cutting board. (Careful: They can roll around.) Put them in a small dry skillet over medium heat and toast, shaking the pan once or twice until fragrant, 1 to 3 minutes. Pour into a small bowl.
3. Using a Microplane or other grater, grate zest from both limes straight into the bowl with coriander. Grate in the garlic (no need to wash the grater in between), then add the chile and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk in oil.
4. Pat shrimp dry, then transfer to a medium bowl and season with a pinch each salt and black pepper. Give the coriander mixture a stir, then pour half of it over the shrimp, reserving the rest for the salad. Toss shrimp to coat and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.
5. Cut the zested limes in half, squeeze out 2 tablespoons juice and whisk into the coriander mixture to make a dressing. Cut leftover lime into wedges.
6. Arrange the shrimp in a grill basket or on skewers (or just on a sheet pan if broiling), and grill or broil shrimp until well browned on one side, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and cook until just opaque and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a plate and squeeze a wedge of lime all over.
7. In a large bowl, combine melon, cucumber, onion, feta and herbs. Pour in coriander dressing and toss to combine. Taste, and add more salt or lime juice to taste. Top melon salad with grilled shrimp and more herbs, if you’d like. — NYT
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