I enjoyed a similar salad out at  a restaurant and I thought I could recreate it slightly better and I Forking did! This is a refreshing light delicious salad that’s easy to prepare and looks like something from a very upscale restaurant.

Ingredients for 4 servings

One medium melon. (I used a honey dew but I think just about any ripe flavorful similar kind of melon would do) Remove rind and seeds and cut in halves into thinner slices

1/2 rind of preserved lemon chopped fine

1 Tablespoon of the preserved lemon brine (if you used my recipe…because it’s fresh lemon juice and kosher salt) (as a substitute use 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice and salt to taste)

3 Tablespoons sunflower oil

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons pure honey

1 Tablespoon fresh mint – chopped fine

2 oz. whipped cream cheese (you might want slightly more to get you pastry bag working but you only use about 2 oz. at the most)

4 pinches of lavender

optional edible flowers broken down a little

Directions

Arrange melon slices on plates and set to the side.

In a small bowl add preserved lemon, preserved lemon brine, sunflower oil, vinegar, honey and mix well and pour over each serving.

Sprinkle the mint and optional flowers over each serving.

Get a disposable pastry bag and a small rose tip. Insert the tip to bag and fill with cream cheese and twist the end so the cheese doesn’t fall out.

Hold the bag and add pressure and make like sort of a hook motion.

Now do a reverse hook motion into what you already did.

Now you have some cheese that looks like a flower bud.

Make several all over the salad.

If you feel like it make a rose in the middle. Apologies for not being able to take good pictures while doing a rose. I found I can’t handle a cell phone a pastry bag and my other hand holding a flower nail very well. But I’ll try to do better another time.

For right handed people hold your nail in your left hand and make a little mountain of cream cheese on the nail.

Now go around the top to make the center of the bud leaving a small hole in the top.

After this it’s easy!!!! Just keep going around making petals starting at the top doing small ones  that get larger till it looks right to you and remove with a butter knife.

This is so delicious! The delicate whipped cream cheese doesn’t over power anything so you can taste all the delicious flavors. This really is BETTER than what I tried from some high end restaurants.