Thanks to Bianca, the daughter of Chiara Maci, I discovered this recipe: the Watermelon and Feta Chessboard and I fell in love with it. Maybe it’s because when Bianchina cooks, as her mom calls her, it’s always a discovery of combinations, colors, and flavors. A small future food blogger with clear ideas because she grew up in a world where food is not just nourishment, but it’s history, culture, and discovery.
I’ve been following Chiara Maci for several years, I adore her approach to cooking, to recipes and the respect for the seasonality of ingredients. The culture of food, the discovery, and the sharing with her children. I recommend listening to her Podcast, it’s a magnet for enthusiasts of stories about Italian families connected to food, I practically devoured the episodes like they were delicious chocolate muffins.
In her way of being a mother, I recognize a bit of my mother Roberta, friend and confidant. Great enthusiast of travel and cooking, everything had to be tasted before judging if we liked it or not. Never a priori. The best conversations we had were in the kitchen, deciding on trips to take together and dinners to organize.
The recipe is very easy to follow, I also prepared the video recipe so that every step can be followed together. Since Bianca is still a little girl, she prepared a dish without cooking, fresh, summery, and super colorful. It’s indeed a beautiful Tricolor, perfect for the period of the European Football Championships or the Olympics; it’s a cold dish to celebrate the medals of the Azzurri.
Below I also leave you other recipes that you can prepare using Greek feta which I love. Rich in proteins, it is a flavored hard cheese suitable for many preparations. You’ll find baked feta with cherry tomatoes and basil, pasta with zucchini, pastry filled with artichokes, and feta-stuffed rolls. All the links below are clickable and will take you directly to the recipe of your choice.
I also remind you that I await you every morning in the group and on Facebook fan page of Le Ricette di Bea with the Recipe of the Day!!! You’ll find the social profile links at the bottom below the recipe!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer
- Energy 149.42 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 4.91 (g) of which sugars 2.78 (g)
- Proteins 7.47 (g)
- Fat 11.23 (g) of which saturated 6.72 (g)of which unsaturated 2.62 (g)
- Fibers 0.23 (g)
- Sodium 571.85 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 125 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Greek Watermelon and Feta Chessboard
- 3 slices watermelon
- 7 oz feta (in my case lactose-free)
- 5 leaves basil (or mint)
- to taste pepper
- 1 drizzle extra virgin olive oil
Brief ingredient list for this recipe. As indicated, you can substitute basil with mint to vary the dish’s flavor. Since I had fresh basil on my balcony, I preferred to use it as the ingredient rather than mint which I would have had to buy.
Tools for Preparing the Watermelon and Feta Chessboard
- 1 Cutting board
- 2 Knives
- 1 Plate
- 1 Tray
As you can see from the video recipe, I chose to cut the watermelon using a wooden cutting board, while the feta on a plate, to ensure the two ingredients, and their respective juices, wouldn’t mix. Thus, I kept the vivid colors of the red watermelon and the milky white feta intact.
I then served the Watermelon and Feta Chessboard on a cutting board so that every guest could take their share from the centerpiece of this fresh and delicious appetizer.
Steps for the Watermelon and Feta Chessboard Recipe
Let’s start this recipe by gathering all the necessary tools and placing them in front of us on a work surface. Take a cutting board, a plate, two knives, and a tray or another cutting board, as I did, to serve the Watermelon and Greek Feta Chessboard.
Place on the first wooden cutting board the three slices of watermelon. We are talking about three slices because we are preparing an appetizer or aperitif for 4 people. If you have more guests or your family has more members, you will need to increase the quantities of all necessary ingredients to make this recipe.
Cut the watermelon into cubes that are neither too large nor too small. Then place it back in the fridge. Take the Greek feta, in my case lactose-free feta, and cut it into cubes of the same size as those made with the watermelon. Then place it in the fridge.
Now wash the basil or fresh mint that you have available. As I mentioned, I chose fresh basil from my balcony garden that is still surviving the extreme heat of this summer. I then opted for a nice serving board instead of a classic plate or tray.
Retrieve the watermelon cubes and the Greek feta cubes from the fridge, and start assembling the chessboard on the board. Alternate the red of the watermelon with the white of the feta. The optical effect is beautiful, a tricolor that we will complete by adding fresh basil leaves. Sprinkle with some pepper and add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
The Watermelon and Feta Chessboard is ready to serve and especially ready to enjoy. I recommend a good cold sparkling wine; we opted for a Rabosello Rosato Veneto IGT that I kept in the fridge until the last second and then maintained at temperature with an ice bucket. The scorching heat is suffocating, and even eating has become a chore.
Wish you all bon appétit, and remind you that I look forward to seeing you every day here on my cooking blog with many easy, quick, and delicious recipes like this one!!!
Variations and Tips
As mentioned, you can replace the basil with fresh mint. You can also add a pinch of salt although, for me, the Greek feta is salty enough, and I never need it. You can then add yellow and red cherry tomatoes or corn to give an extra touch of color to our watermelon and feta chessboard.
I recommend preparing this dish at the moment, keeping both ingredients in the fridge until the last second. This will allow us to serve a fresh dish, delicious, and fragrant, without excess liquids due to the sweating of the ingredients because of the external heat.
For this reason, I advise against using mozzarella, unless it’s the block form for pizza, but I can’t say if it’s worth changing.
Many have written to me, after seeing the dish photo in Instagram stories, that you preferred mozzarella over Greek feta, but the result wouldn’t be the same. Consider first that if mozzarella is well made and creamy, it’s unfortunately very soft. Cutting it into large, firm cubes is already a problem. Then, being soft, it releases a lot of juices, resulting in a dish full of excessive liquids. So, it’s up to you, but for these reasons, mozzarella is not a valid substitute for feta. Maybe a semi-aged hard cheese might work, you could try with Emmentaler or Asiago, a provolone or a scamorza. Perhaps more appropriate, but of course, you must like these cheeses.
