Melon with Blackberry Sauce & Pistachios.

Is that really a salad? Well I wittily titled this series "Summer Salads and Some Aren't". Get it? Some are some are not! That's clever writing, huh?

But clever writing or not I still think it's a salad. In fact I'd call it a breakfast salad. Perhaps a new culinary category– but delicious nonetheless. Hey! This could even be a dessert salad...

Okay, so now we have determined that this is indeed a salad. But not all salads need a vinaigrette. Some salads are sauced. In the case of this melon and blackberry salad the dressing is simply blackberries with some lemon juice and a bit of sugar. I infused the sauce with some fresh lemon verbena leaves as well. I think the herbal quality makes this sauce more suited to a sophisticated salad than a banana split sundae.

You could use any melon you like in this salad. You could even mix your melons (now I'm blushing). I chose galia, a green fleshed musk melon that is super sweet this time of year. I made mine into perfectly shaped little melon balls (blushing again) but slices or chunks taste just as delicious.

Crunch is a texture all salads need in some measure. I made that point yesterday when I introduced this week long series of Summer Salads. I also explained exactly what a salad was in my mind. This salad gets its crunch from pistachios. Besides the green color works so well with the melon flesh (now you're blushing).

Today’s selection for my Market Matters post from the Hollywood Farmers Market is another melon. What can I say? They are so seasonal and there is nothing better than a perfectly ripe melon.

This time I have chosen a Persian melon, also known as Patelquat. Which is a large greenish muskmelon with delicate netting on the rind and a rich salmon-colored flesh. It looks a bit like a larger more oval shaped cantaloupe, though it is usually much more fragrant. Persian melons are bigger than a cantaloupe too. They typically weigh around 5 pounds. Naturally they have a delicious, sweet flavor. I think they taste like a much more intense cantaloupe. In Southern California they're available from July through October, with a peak in the late summer.

As with all melons choose Persian melons that are heavy for their size, and very fragrant. They should be firm with a small amount of softness at the stem end. The rind should be the palest of green with netting that is slightly brown when ripe. If the background is very green the melon is not yet ripe. Persians are best vine ripened, but if you mistakenly get a green one let it sit on the counter at room temperature for a few days. Ripe melons should be refrigerated and will keep as long as two weeks if uncut.

Ho Ho Ho. Merry Christmas!

Today from the Hollywood Farmers Market I bring you Christmas in July. What I mean to say is I bring you a visit from Santa Claus, in the form of a melon. A super sweet Santa Claus melon.

I love summer melon, even when it has a ridiculously wintery name like Santa Claus. Melon replaces dessert many nights in this house during the summer. However if I am entertaining I might serve it as a palate cleanser after the meal, but before dessert. I almost always include a bit of melon in our Hollywood Bowl Picnics too.

I also enjoy the presentation of melon. Some people peel them so well, it’s a pleasure to watch them work. My peeling technique is a bit clumsy so I typically prep my melons behind closed doors. But I am working on my skills, and there is always next summer. Who knows, melon peeling tableside could become a tradition here as well.

Santa Claus melons are in a group of melons (like cantaloupe and honeydew) that are known as muskmelons. They probably originated in Asia Minor and were cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Muskmelons, along with squash, pumpkins, watermelon, and cucumbers fall into the very large genus Cucumis. The familial resemblance is obvious so I won’t bore you with more on their similarities.