Prosciutto and Melon
The quintessential Italian summer antipasto: wedges of cold, fragrant cantaloupe wrapped in paper-thin slices of sweet, aged prosciutto crudo. There is no cooking at all, just the perfect sweet-and-salty contrast of ripe fruit against cured ham. Everything hinges on the quality of two ingredients.
- prep 15 min
- cook 0 min
- total 15 min
- serves 4
- easy
- gluten-free
- dairy-free
- Italy
Ingredients
- 1 whole Cantaloupe melon
- 200 g Prosciutto crudo
- 1 pinch Black pepper
Steps
- Choose a ripe, fragrant cantaloupe melon: it should smell sweet at the stem end and yield slightly to a gentle press at the tip.
- Refrigerate it for at least an hour so it is served cold.
- Cut the melon in half.
- Scoop out all the seeds and stringy fibres with a spoon.
- Cut each half into wedges about 3 cm thick.
- Run a knife between the flesh and the rind to remove the green skin completely.
- Pat the wedges dry with paper towel so the prosciutto adheres.
- Lay out the prosciutto slices and wrap one slice loosely around the centre of each melon wedge, leaving the ends of the fruit exposed.
- Arrange the wrapped wedges on a chilled serving plate.
- Finish with a few turns of freshly ground black pepper if you like, and serve immediately while the melon is cold and the ham at cool room temperature.
Tips
- Quality is everything in a two-ingredient dish: use a genuine aged prosciutto crudo (Parma or San Daniele) sliced as thin as possible, and a melon at peak ripeness. White winter melon works too. Keep the melon cold and the ham at cool room temperature so its aroma blooms. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or a few torn basil leaves are welcome but optional.
≈ 165 kcal · 12 g protein · 14 g carbs · 7 g fat — per serving, estimate