Grilled Watermelon Salad

Yep, you read the title correctly: GRILLED watermelon salad. Most people seem a bit shocked when we explain that you actually can and we did grill watermelon.

Now we can't take full creative credit for this one. Upon making our salad we were merely trying to imitate the one we had last week at WhoopEmUp Hollow Cafe in Waitsburg. Trying to recreate our favorite restaurant dishes is always a favorite cooking challenge for us. Trying to identify all the components in a dish and then recreate it at home without a recipe...oh that just gets our cooking juices flowing. Yes, we are cooking nerds for sure.

The salad I had at the WhoopEmUp Hollow Cafe that served as inspiration

It's finally watermelon weather here so we wanted to give this idea a try.

First we sliced some watermelon, not too thick but thick enough not to be cooked through on the grill.

We also sliced some sticks of jicama, red onion and chopped some fresh mint.

We then put it on the grill...

 just long enough to get some grill marks on it.

We created a simple vinaigrette of fresh lime juice, a little honey and some chopped mint.

We layered our salad with the watermelon, toppings and dressing.

What a refreshing salad to go with a rich bbq sauce or a simple light lunch. The mint and lime juice really help create some great depth of tastes to the dish.

We did forget to put the feta cheese on top unfortunately... we had it ready to go and just got too excited I guess and forgot to add it at the end. That component really helps create a more balanced salad so next time we won't forget it.

We loved our version and highly recommend you give it a try. Super simple.

Cowboy steak & Jalapeno Cheddar Potatoes

G worked meticulously all day  in the yard as he does keeping it beautiful  for us to enjoy  which worked up a meat & potatoes kind of appetite.

He was craving new york steak so he had picked some up earlier in the day.

He found a recipe for Cowboy Coffee- Rubbed Steak with Jalapeno Cheddar Fried potatoes in our Cuisine At Home Grilling cookbook/magazine. He also grilled some corn to complete his menu. This was a meal he was excited to make.

First he created the

Cowboy Coffee rub for the steak:

1 T. ground coffee

1 T. sea salt

2 t. black pepper

1 t. each ancho chili powder, garlic powder, dried thyme and sugar

He let rub sit awhile while he prepared his potatoes. Yes, we do seem to be on a jalapeno kick lately don't we? Does anyone love jalapenos as much as we do out there?

Jalapeno Cheddar fried potatoes

1 lb. potatoes cut into 1 1/2 " pieces

2 T. peanut oil

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1 jalapeno, sliced

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup Mexican style shredded cheese

First, cook potatoes in sauce pan with salted water for 10 minutes; drain. Heat oil in cast iron skillet (this was key in our opinion). Add scallions and jalapeno; saute 1 minute, then season with salt & pepper. Off heat sprinkle with cheese.

Pretty much my only contribution to this meal was opening a bottle of Spanish Monastrell wine called Wrongo Dongo made my favorite wine region of Spain Jumilla.

G grilled our steaks and I set the table. The steaks looked spectacular.

We pulled the corn from the grill

and we were set to eat.

The rub on the steak was very flavorful. Not being a coffee fan I was slightly leery of what the rub might taste like. Not coffee at all. But a wonderful rounded spice flavor. The potatoes were amazing. Spicy: YES! But also amazing. We'll surely be making this meal again this summer I'm sure.