After the failed (but not 100% failed) experiment of my Xmas dinner the gauntlet was thrown down (too dramatic?) by Ennuiandwaffles in the comments. Pickled gherkins? No problem.
I’m not sure if this completes the brief – have I really paired things that are great on their own to achieve new and surprising peaks of delights? I don’t know, but I started by trying to reimagine a classic…cheese and pickle.
Cheese and pickle is comfortably normal to me. Cheese and pickle sandwiches, cheese and pickle on a jacket potato or cheese and pickle toasties. But I have travelled to parts of Britain where cheese and pickle elicited strange looks and puzzled enquiries – cheese and pickle? Cheese and Branston pickle? Cheese…with pickle on the top?
Yes.
I actually started judging cafes and delis in the North of England on how startled their staff were by my requests.
Anyway, cheese and pickle was the starting point. The cheese couldn’t be cheddar of course, too obvious, so I went for hallumi (who can resist squeaky cheese?!) I (dry) fried it along with wedges of watermelon. This addition was due to the strangest thing on a menu once sticking in my mind. Along with these I made a simple salsa of finely chopped tomato, red onion and pickled gherkins.
The hallumi didn’t let me down and the pickled gherkin salsa was lovely (and so will definitely be made again). The (dry) fried watermelon was utterly pointless. It had even less flavour than raw watermelon (if that’s possible) but I can see why it was on that menu from years ago…done properly it would make for a great Instagram pic.
Warm watermelon is weird.
The Errant Moon 
Ooooh. Quite the atmospheric photo. Have you considered a career in food porn?
I think I’m too old to start taking photos of all my food…but it’s good to have a back-up if the career fails 🙂
That looks bloody lovely. Saltiness of the most audible of cheeses can only be lush with the wonder of gherkin can only be delicious and I’ll be eating this very thing tomorrow I think. Watermelon always looks so much nicer than it is I think. There is a video of a man smoking/slow cooking a watermelon to make it like a roast ham on YouTube that is a must watch. It felt weird typing those words together. Hope you have many more ventures in 2020
Apologies for a small bit of that not making sense, I’m very sleepy haha
Nods head solemnly….you are forgiven 🙂
I have now concluded that the only way to make watermelon part of a savoury meal is to smother it in HP Fruity and hope for the best.
I don’t think I’ll ever be Heston Blumenthal but you may have helped to set a weird tasting theme for next year…thank you.
No worries, and god speed, or whichever speed you are comfortable with
I know he works mysteriously, but is he nippy about it, or slow? Never did know what MPH god speed was…
I’d like to think it was a nice slow speed, like you’ve arrived at the picnic, but need to find a parking space. When I see some of the work done, it feels like godspeed is over the limit, in a panic to get to work speed. I personally don’t have a deity, but it could be that there is a known speed for each denomination, and you select based on this.
You got a proper LOL for that, thank you 🙂
I don’t have a deity either but if I ever decide I want one their speed will definitely be the determining factor.