Cantaloupe & Prosciutto Salsa Cruda

Here's a funky sweet and savory salsa that makes use of the well-known flavor marriage of cantaloupe and prosciutto. I served it with some sweet potato and carrot chips, but I think it would be outstanding atop a nice piece of grilled mild fish. It might also be a good accessory to a grilled salad.

Cantaloupe & Prosciutto Salsa Cruda

Ingredients
1 medium Cantaloupe
1 large Shallot
4 slices Prosciutto (a little thicker than paper-thin)
1 handful Italian parsley
2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp Honey
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp Ground white pepper

Method
Cut the cantaloupe in half and seed it.

Note: If you don't want to use the rind as bowl, skip the next three steps.

Cantaloupe & Prosciutto Salsa Cruda

Use an ice cream scoop to remove all but about 1/4" of the flesh from one half of the melon, as shown. Set the flesh aside.

If the hollow rind won't sit upright on its own, cut a small sliver off of the bottom center to make a flat spot.

Put the rind bowl in a large zip-top bag and freeze it.

Cantaloupe & Prosciutto Salsa Cruda

Cut all of the melon to a medium dice and put it in a large mixing bowl.

Cantaloupe & Prosciutto Salsa Cruda

Chop the prosciutto to approximately 1/4".

Mince the shallot and chop the parsley (medium - you need about 1/3 cup).

Note: This kind of prep work is where the uber-cheap and scary-sharp Kiwi knives really shine. They are prep machines!

Cantaloupe & Prosciutto Salsa Cruda
Add the prosciutto, shallot, parsley, salt and pepper to the mixing bowl.

Whisk the vinegar and honey together in a small bowl, then add it to the melon.

Mix the salsa well, cover and refrigerate at least two hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve and enjoy!

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3 Comments:
Blogger Wendy said...
YUM! That looks delicious!! I'll totally be trying this one out.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Nice! I like spicy fruit salsas. I often make a mango, black bean, cayenne, cilantro, lime juice salsa, which doesn't have a name, but I just gave you a list of all the ingredients. One comment about the salsa you've created, I think the prosciutto you're picturing is prosciutto cotto, which is good, but not as good as prosciutto crudo (but, that's only my opinion). What you have is more along the lines of what most people call ham in the US. I'm very lucky to be living in Italy at the present time, so I have some lovely prosciutto available at my local macelleria (butcher, basically). I'm dreading the day I have to move back to the states and pay so much more for my meats and veggies! In the south of Italy where I live, in Monte di Procida, outside of Naples, we have fresh produce year round. In fact, the lemons on the tree in my yard have all just ripened, and the blossoms are sprouting for the lemons we'll have in April... ahhhh, I love my life. Oh, and my name is Laurie, but I have to post this "anonymous" because this system is telling me my wordpress account has illegal characters - whatever that means...
Blogger test it comm said...
Now that is a nice salad! The salty prosciutto goes really well with the sweet melon.

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