Important question: Can you eat muskmelons every day till the season ends? I think you can. I believe in you! I also don’t care if you call them muskmelons or canteloupes, as long as you get some of those orange-fleshed melons that smell like heaven and say height of summer. Of course, you can just slice and eat them, of course. But you know what’s fancier? These! My top 5 muskmelon/canteloupe recipes.
Melon CarpaccioMelon carpaccios were on every menu for a little while in the 1990’s, but I haven’t seen them around in a while. They should come back! Mainly they’re very, very thin slices of melon dressed with olive oil, lime and salt, here’s a recipe that throws tarragon on the melon for a little edge—if you don’t have tarragon you could substitute thyme, basil, or even lavender. Serve it with a sauvignon blanc. Fresh and fancy!
Underbelly’s Grilled Canteloupe with AgrodolceIt’s so easy to grill canteloupe, and once you have it with this sweet-and-sour vinegar sauce you will wonder why we haven’t been grilling canteloupe all the time. Don’t be afraid of the agrodolce, it just sounds fancy: it’s just sugar and apple cider vinegar, with cut up fruit. This is a great one to bring to a potluck—people will be amazed at you, you’re so clever! Grilling canteloupe.
Canteloupe CocktailsCanteloupe DaiquiriThese are in many of the fancy bars, and I couldn’t pick between a margarita and a daiquiri, so I’ll leave you with recipes for each of them. Make your backyard a festival of melons.
Salted and Spiced MelonYou are going to think I’m crazy, but this recipe for putting fancy salt and pepper on melon—it’s straight-up brilliant. The sweet melon with the pepper spice and the depth of salt—you will think it is so much more cooked than it is. Also, you can make mountains of this for parties, and it also works on watermelon, honeydew, or a mix of those all together.
Fig & Olive, the Los Angeles Restaurant, has the world’s best Melon and Prosciutto Burrata SaladWe all know about the simple, lovely appetizer that’s just prosciutto wrapped around slices of melon—that is a dish that’s nothing but wonderful. But have you ever asked yourself, is there a way to do that, and go beyond! Yes there is, and the folks at the restaurant Fig & Olive in Los Angeles nailed it. What you’re going to do is make a salad with muskmelon, prosciutto, and burrata, dressed with a bit of pesto. Phenomenal.