I'll get back to other things soon, I'm sure, but I'm on a cooking binge again. Today, I used what felt like every bit of half a watermelon by making watermelon salad with rum and mint and pickled watermelon rind.
The salad (recipe at the link above) reminded me a little bit of summer house parties my roommates and I had in college. We used to take one of those big meat-juice-injecting-needle-thingys and use it to pump a watermelon with the better part of a bottle of rum. Very good for getting a crowd tipsy on the cheap...but, I digress. This is kind of the grown up version of that--a lot less rum and a little mint to give it more depth than the watermelon alone. The melon-balling was a little tricksey at first, but you could just chunk it up if it struck your fancy.
After making the salad, I was left with the rind, of course. I've had a few bad experiences trying to make my own pickles, so I probably wouldn't have tried this ordinarily, but, well, I had the rind and the rest of the ingredients weren't overly complicated, so I figured I had nothing to lose.
And good thing I did--these little zingers are addictive! The original recipe came from this month's issue of "Everyday Food", but I played with it just a little. Here's the recipe with my modifications:
Pickled Watermelon Rind
- rind from a 3 pound piece of watermelon
- 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar (I think they might actually be better with a less strong type of vinegar--next time I may try rice vinegar instead)
- 1/3 cup sugar (the EF version uses 1 1/2 cups, but I didn't want mine that sweet)
- 2 tablespoons pickling spice (I think you could use less)
- 3 cloves diced garlic (this is not in the EF version, but garlic makes everything better)
Using whatever method makes the most sense to you (I used a paring knife, EF suggests a veggie peeler) remove the outer skin and green layer from the rind, as well as any remaining bits of pink watermelon flesh; cut the rind into strips about 2 inches by 1/2 inch (close is good). In a medium saucepan, combine 5 cups water with 3 tablespoons of salt, and bring to a boil. Add the rind and cook for about 5 minutes. Drain and transfer to a heatproof bowl. (They're pretty good at this stage, actually, if you don't want to go to the trouble of doing the rest.)
In the same saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, pickling spice, remaining salt, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Pour the hot liquid over the rinds, using a small plate to make them stay covered if necessary. Let cool to room temperature, transfer to a container, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 weeks.
I suggest rolling a few in a slice of your favorite cheese and lunch meat and chowing down.
