Watermelon Gazpacho, Grilled Bread, Roasted Cauliflower & Grilled Chicken

This dinner began as a simple project to use watermelon left over from the Memorial Day weekend and turned into a more elaborate meal.

Watermelon Gazpacho & Grilled Bread

Yields about two quarts of soup

A quarter of a seedless watermelon
Half of a vidallia onion
A large cucumber
A red pepper
1-2 tomatoes
3-4 cloves garlic
High quality olive oil
1c plain Greek yogurt
Dill, salt  and pepper (fresh dill is better, but dried dill can be used)

- Cut the fruit and vegetables into relatively small chunks
- Reserve about 2c of the vegetables for finishing the soup when served.  Chop finely and set aside
- Stir a generous amount of dill into the yogurt and set aside
- Use a blender or food processor to puree the fruit and vegetables.  Process to desired consistency.  You can serve the soup finely pureed or in a more rustic, textured style
- Stir in about 1/4c of olive oil
- Add a generous amount of dill
- Season to taste
- Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.  The soup will thicken and the flavors will come together

Top each serving with a couple of teaspoons of the finely chopped vegetables and a portion of the dill-flavored yogurt

Lemon & Herb Infused Olive Oil

To be used for both the grilled bread and the chicken.  Best if done at least a couple of hours before you intend to use it

1c High quality olive oil
1 lemon
2-3 cloves of garlic
Fresh basil or other herbs of your choice
Salt and pepper

- Peel the garlic and coarsely chop
- Zest the entire lemon
- Juice half of the lemon (Save the other half for the chicken)
- Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, zest, garlic and herbs together
- Season as desired


Grilled Bread

This can be done ahead of time and held in a warm oven.  To be served with the soup.

1 loaf of Italian Bread
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Half of the infused olive oil

- Slice a loaf of Italian bread diagonally into thin slices
- Dry the bread in a low temperature oven, 175-200 degrees.  The objective is to thoroughly stale the bread.  You can also do this by setting the bread slices on a wire rack for an extended period
- Lightly paint the bread slices on both sides with the infused olive oil
- Grill until toasted
- Top with grated parmesan cheese

Roasted Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower
A little olive oil
Badia Seasoning or salt and pepper

Break up the cauliflower into florets
Toss with a little olive oil and season with Badia or salt and pepper
Roast in a shallow baking dish at high temperature - 400-425 degrees until lightly browned.  It should take 15-20 minutes

Grilled Chicken

Chicken breasts
Remaining lemon, infused olive oil
Salt and pepper

- Marinate the chicken in the remaining infused olive oil and juice of the lemon half
- Liberally season with salt and pepper
- Let the chicken marinate 2-3 hours before grilling
- Grill until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees