Summer melon spoon salad

Meant to be scooped into your mouth with a spoon -- all the better to capture the lemony dressing in each bite -- this cool monochrome salad of juicy sweet melon and crisp cucumbers is especially refreshing. The chefs Sarah Hymanson and Sara Kramer don't serve it at their Los Angeles restaurants, but they created it for "Kismet" (Clarkson Potter, 2024), their cookbook of the same name. In it, they capture their love of fruits and vegetables with dishes meant for home cooks, and this is their California take on classic Middle Eastern diced tomato-cucumber salads.

Mixing in ripe avocado at the end keeps the cubes from falling apart but still lends creaminess to the mix. It's a great dish to serve with other salads, anything grilled or just a hunk of bread for a light meal.