Grilled watermelon and chicken thighs

Yes, I realise that this is an odd title, but it is hard to come up with anything different.
It is now officially hot in Texas, so we typically avoid adding heat inside the kitchen and use the grill for just about everything. Tonight's dinner was no exception. And, as usual there are leftovers: The dinner was a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, potatoes, grilled chicken and grilled watermelon. Sounds odd, I admit! But it did get the "we can serve this to people" accolade from Madame, so all is well.
Why thighs and not breasts? They are much easier to cook without drying out - more forgiving and more flavorful. Yes they are fattier, but we embrace the inner fat in this house. Flavor rules!
Also we typically don't dress our salads directly. We cook potatoes, dress them while hot and then use the dressed potatoes as the dressing for the salad overall. It is one way to make sure you don't overdress the salad. Oh, and since it is as fast to make a dressing as it is to open a bottle, the dressings are all home made. Where to start?

Ingredients

Potatoes

2 lbs waxy potatoes with the skins on

water to cover

salt

Dressing

1/4 cup cider vinegar

3T Sherry vinegar

1 small shallot - minced

1/2 t dry mustard

salt

pepper

3/4 cup neutral oil

2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Watermelon

6 watermelon wedges

oil to lightly coat - prevent sticking on the grill

salt/pepper to taste

Chicken

6 Boneless/skinless chicken thighs

1/2t Hungarian paprika

1/2t Cayenne Pepper

1/2t Cumin

1T coarse salt

a few grinds of pepper

Seeds from 6 cardamom pods

1/4 t dried oregano

Salad

A few lettuce leaves torn into bite sized pieces

6 small tomatoes (not cherry or grape sized - larger than that, and nice and ripe), each cut into eighths

1 small cucumber peeled and chopped so the pieces are the same size as the tomatoes

Coarse sea salt

Method

Potatoes

Quarter the potatoes. Place in cold, salted water in a saucepot. Bring to a simmer. and cook until fork tender, but not mushy. Drain the potatoes. While still warm pour the dressing over the potatoes and allow to come to room temperature

Dressing

Combine all ingredients, except oils into a glass jar. Shake to mix. Add the oils, and shake again to emulsify. Use immediately. However it will keep in the fridge for a week or so.

Watermelon

Season the watermelon with salt/pepper and brush with oil. Grill for about 3 minutes each side. Serve slightly warm

Chicken

Pat the chicken thighs dry. make up the rub by vombining the spices in a pestle and mortar, grinding until a fine, uniform powder. Coat the chicken with the spice mixture and allow to stand while the grill heats up. When the grill is hot, grill the chicken thighs for about 5 min/side until they are cooked through. Remove from the grill, allow to stand for a few minutes before slicing thinly across the grain.

Assembly

Lay some lettuce leaves in the bottom of an individual salad bowl. Mix in the tomatoes/cucumber. Decorate with the chicken slices. Add some dressed potatoes to the salad, place 2 grilled watermelon wedges on top, and serve.

It looks like a lot of work, but from start to finish this took the requisite 45 minutes.