The Blueberries, Feta and Mint recipe I love from Mindy Fox’s Salads: Beyond the Bowl is a play on a classic pairing of fruit with feta: watermelon and feta, peaches and feta, cherries and feta, blackberries and feta…
The permutations seem endless when you’re shopping summer farmer’s markets. I swap out the mint for basil, or tiny arugula or thyme flowers…or clusters of purslane…or…no herb at all. The formula then becomes:
fruit (fresh or grilled) +
feta +
extra virgin olive oil +
sea salt +
coarsely ground pepper +
herbs/greens (maybe)
Perfect.

Formula for Improvising: Fruit with Feta and Maybe an Herb
Serves four
3 cups, about 1 1/2 pints, blueberries, blackberries, cherries (pitted or halved), watermelon (cubed), peaches or plums (sliced)
1 cup mint (there are many kinds) or basil or baby arugula leaves, large leaves torn; purslane clusters; or a sprinkling of tiny individual thyme flowers or leaves
About 1 cup feta cheese (sheep’s milk if you can find it, or a mix of sheep and goat; French Valbreso is lovely)
4 tablespoons very good extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns, crushed
Divide the fruit among small shallow bowls, then sprinkle with the herbs. Crumble the cheese over the top. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the oil over each serving. Crush several generous pinches of salt over each dish and sprinkle with the pepper.
Since it’s fig season I’m using a lot of them whenever I can. Figs with some lemon zest, mint and feta sound good, with maybe a dash of maple syrup and olive oil. Just thinking….
Thanks, and I am a longtime fan.
OMG, Vaughan, how could I have forgotten figs?!!! Thanks so much for reminding me. YES, figs would be wonderful this way.