Last week I was the guest judge for the 32nd week of the Steemit Culinary Challenge. All the entries were great fun and they looked and read deliciously.
One of the entries was submitted by fellow Steemian @rouketas. If you missed his post you can view it here:
https://steemit.com/food/@rouketas/steemit-culinary-challenge-32-mediterranean-outdoors-grande-bouffe-with-bikini-bottom-burger#@rouketas/re-rebeccaryan-re-rouketas-steemit-culinary-challenge-32-mediterranean-outdoors-grande-bouffe-with-bikini-bottom-burger-20170629t103307406z
He made several delectables as part of his offering but what I was most intrigued about was his fresh watermelon, feta cheese salad with mint and black sesame seeds. It just looked refreshing and like it would be the perfect accompaniment to any main dish or other salad selections that might be served on a hot summer's day.
On Sunday morning, @knarly327 and I received a dinner invitation for later that afternoon. It was an impromptu kind of affair. Both our hostess and host are good cooks and they both really enjoy cooking and entertaining. Their love of good company and their ability to provide genuine hospitality, is second to none.
I love being invited to dine at their table because they are always trying new recipes and they prefer to prepare everything from scratch.
This afternoon was no exception and this is where the drier part of the story starts:
A few months back, our host had been driving along (not far from where we all live) when a wild turkey hit the vehicle that was driving in front of him, on a secondary country road. The turkey had been roosting in a stand of trees that was located close to the road's edge. Something must have startled it because wild turkeys don't normally make a habit of fly at or into the path of moving vehicles. The driver of the vehicle kept driving and didn't stop. Allegedly, because it appeared like the bird merely bounced off the hood and kept flying on its way.
This is a photo that I took in the winter of a wild flock of 75 wild turkeys. The hen that flew into the moving vehicle was slightly smaller than the ones you see in the photo and where she met her demise was not that far from this particular corn-field. As you can see, these can be big birds. They have approximately 6,000 feathers, so that makes them look even bigger when they puff them out.
Back to the story...
Our host, having a different vantage point, saw that the bird hit pretty hard and tumble into the ditch. He stopped to check on it and saw immediately that the bird had broken its spine and had probably died instantly on the impact. Being a hunter, our host immediately returned to his house with the wild turkey. He cleaned it, dressed it and put the bird in their freezer for a special occasion.
This afternoon was that special occasion.
I had mentioned (in passing to our host) that I have never eaten wild turkey and I was interested in trying it sometime.
This request did not fall on deaf ears and it was a day of 3 firsts for me, because up until now, I had never eaten: wild turkey, road-kill (like wtf!?! I can't even believe that I just typed that) or, watermelon and feta cheese together.
OK, lets have a look at this bird (who quickly lost its life one minute and was scooped up by my friend so she wouldn't go to waste, in the next):
Our host, cooked a store-bought turkey along side the wild turkey. You can see that the wild turkey isn't nearly as plump as domesticated turkeys that are raised for human consumption. The dark meat on the legs of the wild turkey was really dark and quite dry. There wasn't any fat on the wild turkey and I was quite surprised that it did not have a "gamey" after taste.
Other than being a little drier, the wild turkey was really good and I enjoyed it very much.
Our gracious host and hostess even sent us home with a wild turkey care package. In it, you can see how dark, some of the meat actually was:
With the information that we would be having turkey for dinner, I decided to try my hand at a version of @rouketas' watermelon and feta cheese salad. I didn't want to serve salad greens with mine, so I left those ingredients out and added several new ingredients, like strawberries, cucumber, Kalamata olives and fresh oregano.
I've called this a "Pail Salad" because I knew that there would be 12 dinner guests at the party and I needed a container that would hold a lot of salad, transport in the car easily and be able to fit compactly into a refrigerator until it was time to serve it. I just went to my local hardware store and bought a pail with a lid that would hold 1 gallon or 4 litres of material. It cost approximately $6 for my fancy pail and I will be able to re-use it for other "pail salads" in the future.
This salad will easily serve 12 people and make 3/4 of a gallon or approximately 3 litres of finished salad.
The ingredients that I used to make the salad are:
- 7 cups of watermelon cut into small cubes (This is 1/2 a medium size watermelon);
- 1 lb (454 grams) of fresh strawberries, clean and cut into small pieces;
- 1 whole English cucumber, cut into small pieces;
- 1/2 lb (227 grams) of feta cheese cut into small cubes;
- 1/4 cup of kalamata olives, pitted and cut into small pieces;
- 1/4 cup of toasted sesame seeds;
- 3 tbsp of fresh mint leaves, cut into small pieces;
- and 1+1/2 tbsp of fresh oregano leaves, cut into small pieces.
Here's the ingredients that I used for the dressing:
- 2 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar infused with honey (or any balsamic vinegar you have on hand);
- and 3 tbsp of exrta light olive oil.
Directions:
- Peel and chop the cucumber into small pieces.
- Add these pieces to a large mixing bowl that will be large enough to accommodate the tossing of one very large salad.
- Chop the strawberries and watermelon into small pieces also and add them to the mixing bowl next.
- Tear the fresh mint leaves from its stalk and then cut or tear them into small pieces.
- Add this to the salad next.
- Harvest the oregano. Strip its leaves from its stalk and cut it into small pieces too.
- Add this to the salad.
- Cut the feta cheese into small cubes and slice the olives (about 12) into small slices.
- Add both of these items to the salad.
- Toast the sesame seeds over a medium-high heat or flame. (This takes less than 3 minutes and the seeds can burn really easily, so keep them moving with a spatula while they toast. Do not leave them unattended. There is a fine line between nicely toasted and burnt.)
- Add them to the salad.
- Mix the dressing next by combining 2 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar with 3 tbsp of extra light olive oil.
- Once this is combined and mixed thoroughly, pour it over top of the salad.
- Toss the salad really well to make sure that it is evenly coated in the dressing.
- Put the salad in the pail. Then seal the lid and put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to transport it and or, serve it. I served it right from the pail with a big serving spoon. It was slick. I simply plopped the pail on the table and threw a big serving spoon in it. It offered a great splash of colour to the buffet.
The pail is perfect for transporting the salad and it is a fun way to serve a salad.
Pail Salad is a great "new" thing and @rouketas was right! I love watermelon and feta cheese together and so did the other 11 people who greatly enjoyed it on a hot summer afternoon!
I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me. There's always room for one more at my table. ;)
~ Rebecca Ryan