Ingredients
Mint and basil
Get a weekly dose of home and style inspiration
Subscribe to the St. Louis Design+Home newsletter to explore the latest stories from the local interior design, fashion, and retail scene.
½ seedless watermelon
8 oz. halloumi cheese
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. 18-year balsamic vinegar
The combination of juicy red watermelon, two quintessential summer herbs, and grilled halloumi—a Cypriot sheep’s-milk-and-goat’s-milk cheese that comes alive when warmed—becomes a study in contrasts: cool and warm, sweet and salty, crunchy and creamy.
First, prepare the garnish by snipping the tops from 18 to 20 mint plants, or use small mint leaves as the garnish. Roll 10 medium basil leaves, and chiffonade them into threads. Cut cold watermelon into 18 to 20 flat bite-sized chunks, then cut 8 ounces of halloumi into ½-inch-thick slabs. Brush both sides of the cheese with extra-virgin olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Grill the cheese until it chars and begins to melt, approximately a minute per side. Place a few threads of basil atop the melon pieces, artfully arrange the cheese and mint garnish, and finish by adding 3 to 4 drops of balsamic vinegar to each. Serve as is, or skewered with bamboo knot toothpicks.
