Melon Salad with Mint, Basil, Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Maybe Prosciutto too
or just put some salt on your melon
things you’ll need: a melon (musk, cantaloupe, casaba, canary, santa claus, crenshaw, etc), mint, basil, ricotta and mozzarella (or just burrata), optional prosciutto, some balsamic *glaze/reduction, and salt.
*you can buy it at most grocery stores or make it yourself. Most of the bottled stuff includes thickeners like xanthan gum and added sugar. Most of the recipes to make at home also add brown sugar, honey, or maple syrup. Love and Lemons (one of my go-to sites) suggests bringing to a gentle boil and then and simmering for 8-12 minutes until reduced with no additions. I used the bottled stuff. In truth, you can just dribble regular balsamic or some other vinegar or you can leave it off. I’m just a fool for an acid component.
back in quarantine times, I made this melon with mint and bacon and thought I had discovered what falling in love tastes like. This is kind of that but as a salad you can make and look super fancy while doing very little. Also, salt your melon. I used to think it was weird and refused to try it. I feel bad for that version of me.
incidentally gluten-free. Vegetarian if you leave out the Prosciutto. For vegan, drizzle your melon with balsamic glaze, a pinch of salt, and then eat it over arugula and/or torn herbs. If you feel like it, try vegan bacon.
Chapter 232
Without even trying, melon is sweet. It just grows that way. It shows up and magically turns sun, rot, and water into the sugary sweet nectar that dribbles down your chin. It’s amazing. It’s also science. It’s also a bazillion chains of information that took billions of years of trial and error to get right.
There is something you do effortlessly that looks like magic to someone else. It might be math or sewing or knowing what time it is without looking at a clock. Whatever it is, you know you are good at it, but it still feels weird when people compliment you on it. You have so many other skills that were hard fought to acquire and a struggle to maintain. As though you only deserve praise for things that are hard for you. As though your labor is the most valuable thing about you. As though your gifts matter less than your efforts.
You’re not sure why things have to be hard in order to feel valuable or whether capitalism, misogyny, or whiteness are most to blame but it feels like it’s their fault (most things are) and it’s stupid. You get to be naturally amazing and work hard to add more amazing to the shining light of your greatness. More importantly, you get to feel pride in both because they work together to make up You.
Find a fresh melon. Pick a ripe one. Give the cut stem end a good press and make sure it gives a little then smell the same spot. If it screams MELON into your nose holes (even with a mask), you know you got a good one. Cut the melon in half and scrape the seeds (save the seeds and toast them). Remove the rind however you want to remove the rind. Watch a bunch of YouTubes or do it the way that feels right to you. For all you know, you might be a natural at rind removal. Cut the melon into cubes of forkable size.
While chopping and trimming, take a piece for yourself and sprinkle just a bit of salt on the juicy fruit. Do it again because you can hardly believe that your mouth could know a joy like this. It’s simple and science, and yet it feels like magic. Salt brings out the sweet in the same way that your efforts enhance your talents. (Boom, metaphor!)
Finely chop a few tablespoons of fresh mint, basil, or both. Fold it into a little ricotta along with salt and pepper. If you think it needs something, you can add a dribble of white wine/champagne vinegar or citrus zest or whatever feels natural for you.
Spread (or plop) the ricotta on the base of a plate, top with much melon, and tuck little pockets of prosciutto around as needed (or don’t). Tear up mozzarella to poke in here and there, sprinkle with more fresh mint and/or basil, and finish the whole plate with a sprinkle of salt. You’ll know how much to use because you have been stealing bites of melon and salt through the whole salad construction process, like the self-satisfying champ that you are. If you are into it, lightly drip balsamic glaze all over.
Even if you don’t believe in astrology or unseen forces, it’s a great time to revel in how amazing you are, to be a lot of a lot and prone to muchness, and to admire the hell out of yourself. In fact, it’s rarely a bad time. Unless it is all the time. In which case you might need to make room for other people’s much muchness and admire the hell out of them too. In fact, you need their muchness because it helps bring out the muchness of you. So, invite them over for a fancy salad that is so easy it could very well be magic.
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