Keep things simple with a delicious summer salad that is the perfect blend of sweet, salty, herbaceous, and fresh! The inspiration for this dish came from some of the fairly complicated summer salads I kept seeing on Pinterest. You know the ones: grilling, marinating, brûléeing, and driving out of town to find a handful of specialty ingredients. For this recipe, I wanted something quick, with minimal chopping and fussing, that still delivered on flavor and dare I say elegance!
That being said, this recipe does have mention of a melon baller, which is probably one of the fussiest kitchen instruments I can think of. If melon balling sounds like a chore, you have my permission and wholehearted blessing to just cut that dang cantaloupe however you please!
Now that we’ve got our ballers in hand (or not) let’s hit the kitchen!
The Perfect Summer Salad with Melon and Prosciutto
DifficultyEasy
Servings4
Prep time16 minutes
This perfect summer salad features sweet melon, savory prosciutto, and fresh herbaceous greens. A refreshing, easy-to-make dish that’s ideal for warm days and packed with vibrant flavors!
Ingredients
- 1 standard grocery size bag of arugala
- 1 standard grocery size bag of spinach
- 1 heaping handful of fresh basil
- 1 cantaloupe
- 5 ounces prosciutto
- ½ lemon, juiced
- olive oil
- balsamic glaze
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- 1
In a large serving bowl, combine your arugula and spinach. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and juice from ½ a lemon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to mix.
- 2
Cut your cantaloupe in half and scoop out the seeds. Line another bowl with a paper towel and use a melon baller to make spheres, place each sphere on your paper towel and set aside until ready to use.
- 3
With a sharp knife, cut your prosciutto into long strips, about 3 per slice. Roll them into bite-sized rosettes, or crinkle them into a shape easy to grab with a fork.
- 4
Chop your basil into thin shreds. You can do this by stacking the leaves and rolling them into a bundle to slice them all at once (I recently learned this is called the “chiffonade method” – how fancy!)
- 5
To assemble the salad, sprinkle your basil over the bowl of greens, and gently place pieces of melon and prosciutto throughout. Drizzle with balsamic glaze and serve. Add more salt, pepper, and balsamic glaze to taste.
