Melon, Cucumber, Feta and Mint Salad

I have been intrigued by images of what one blogger called a Tetras Salad or Mosaic Salad. The name refers to a serving tray covered with alternating cubes of 3 different melons, feta cheese, mini cucumber slices and more. That more might refer to cherry tomatoes and/or radish cubes. Most sprinkle fresh mint on. Some include onion and/or Kalamata olives.

I was making a tropical recipe - Grilled Huli Huli Chicken and Pineapple Spears - for a family get together. I decided to make Super Veggie Loaded Fried Rice and needed some type of salad. As it was going to be a hot day and we have no air conditioning, a chilled melon salad seemed the right choice. All I needed after those 2 additions were rolls and dessert which I bought at Costco.

My initial goal was to do a tetras salad where people could use tongs and take the ingredients they liked best, but in the end that was a really inefficient way to serve a large amount. So I ended tossing all the ingredients in a glass serving bowl. It was only after the meal was over that I realized I had forgotten to add the cubed feta. So I added it to some leftovers the next day and took a second pic.

It was the perfect side for this summer meal, even though I forgot the feta.  So you can serve this salad with or without the feta depending on your preferences and what else your menu consists of. And if you want to make it a tetras salad, I did include an image to guide you. Enjoy!

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Melon, Cucumber, Feta and Mint Salad 

Serves 8-10 as a side dish

Ingredients

1/2                    Small seedless watermelon, rind removed and cut in 1 inch cubes
3/4                    Cantaloupe, rind removed and cut in 1 inch cubes
3/4                    Honeydew, rind removed and cut in 1 inch cubes
4                       Mini English cucumbers, cross sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
4-5 oz               Block of feta cheese cut in bite size cubes
1                       Small package of mint, take leaves off of stems and mince

1                       large lemon, juiced

1-2 T                Honey

Dash of vegetable oil
fresh mint chopped for garnish
Optional - some add salt. I skipped this.

Instructions

Place first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Sprinkle on the mint, lemon juice, and just a touch of oil.  Drizzle on honey.  Toss gently until evenly combined and then taste. You can add more honey or lemon juice to taste.  Transfer to a large glass serving bowl before serving.  A glass bowl really shows off the colors and doing the mixing in a different bowl leaves the glass bowl less messy. 

Tetras/Mosaic Salad option - most seem to lay out the ingredients raw into the pattern they want and then just sprinkle and drizzle on the oil, honey, lemon and mint after.