Watermelon-Pepperoni salad

Plain watermelon is so good, one wonders what the point of finding other uses for it is.

Putting it in a salad turns the juicy, sweet fruit into a counterpoint for other flavors. It goes great with mint and feta cheese, but I recently decided to pair it with...pepperoni. Sound odd? Perhaps so, but the flavors worked great together, the spicy, slight sweetness of the pepperoni was an ideal match for the cool sweetness of the watermelon.

Watermelon-Pepperoni Salad

1/3 cup walnuts
2-3 cups of salad greens, such as arugula
2 cups 1-inch cubes of watermelon (about 1/4 of a standard-size watermelon)
2 oz. pepperoni, cut in half
1/3 cup feta cheese crumbles
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. honey
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper

1. Toast walnuts in a small frying pan over medium-low heat until fragrant. Remove from pan, cool and coarsely chop.

2. Combine greens, watermelon cubes, pepperoni slices, feta cheese, grape tomatoes and toasted walnuts in a large bowl. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper. Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine.