One Saturday at Souillac market I noticed a table with boxes of ripe looking cantaloupes. Holding one & weighing it in my hand, I reached for my purse to pay when a chap in overalls put a hand up to stop me. "Monsieur, excuse moi," he began, proceeding to take the fruit from me then asking, in English, when exactly I was intending to eat these melons? A concentrated series of tappings & gentle squeezings followed for each melon in turn, testing its readiness. Five minutes later I was walking away with a box of numbered cantaloupes, numbers corresponding to days when I was allowed to eat them: #1 today; #2 tomorrow...
A regular lunch during the long weeks of summer, cantaloupe & serano ham is a classic combination. Married with the smoothness of a creamy buffalo mozarella, or perhaps a soft salty chevre, garnished with greens from the garden, oregano or basil, mint works nicely too, sprigs of rocket, or just a salad of mixed lettuce leaves, this salad is quick to make, light, tasty & full of summer.
ingredients: the salad
cantaloupe or honey dew melon, cut to preference
cured ham/jamon, proscuito/serano
soft cheese, I prefer a fresh buffalo mozarella, but chevre or feta can be subsituted
rocket leaf, though a fresh herb is a nice variation, basil/mint/oregano
a nice drinking port
method:
*assemble on the plate just before serving
*splash the port over at the last minute
A couple of points on the above:
1) I have used a range of cured meats at different times, necessity is the mother of all invention after all, some work better than others. I particularly like using speck in this salad, though that may be simply because I love eating speck. In Israel, I have used pastrami, which I also love to eat! Jamón Serrano/Prosciutto di Parma as a point of reference, follow the link.
2) There are a million & one dressings possible for this salad, the application of port for this recipe is the result of sitting down to lunch one day at La Brugue, Sally in the kitchen getting this salad ready, Al disappearing over to the wine cache & returning with said bottle of port & splashing liberally, with great satisfaction. Heavens parted, angles sang; I was, in an instant, converted.
One of the freedoms of growing up in a culinary environment which draws on such a range of cultural traditions is that influences vary & we are not tied to one form or choice of ingredients or another. In New zealand this is the case &, because perspective is a prerogative, I see this as a freedom & an advantage which allows me the happy flexibility of using what works for me in the moment. The recipe is a guideline, not a set of rules.
The pictures below document some of the versions we ate at La Brugue & will be added to in the coming months, what with the coinciding of my return to New Zealand & the arrival there of summer. A happy coincidence.
cantaloupe spears with rocamadour, jambon, oregano
cantaloupe spears with rocamadour, jambon, rocket leaf, basil
cantaloupe with rocamadour, jambon, buffalo mozzarella, purple basil, honey drizzle
Portuguese cantaloupe, presunto, mint (wedding feast entree)
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