Erica De Mane

Summer cantaloupes at Union Square.

Recipes:

Cantaloupe and Tomato Salad with Black Olives and Tarragon
Cantaloupe Salad with Prosciutto, Frisée, and Basil
Spaghetti with Cantaloupe and Hot Chilies

My grandfather always salted his cantaloupe. As a child I found this weird. It seemed so old-world for an elegantly turned-out man who had in many ways become an urbane New Yorker. When I got a little older and was introduced to prosciutto with melon, I reasoned that his salty cantaloupe was likely a Southern Italian peasant version of this wonderful pairing. There are several dishes like this in the Southern repertoire. One, called pasta che sardi a mari, translating roughly as pasta with the sardines still in the sea, is a cut-rate but delicious vegetarian version of the elaborate Sicilian pasta con le sarde, and it’s a good example of the Southerner’s ability to create elegance from poverty (the pasta includes wild fennel, raisins, pine nuts, and sometimes tomato or cauliflower).

In any case the salt and cantaloupe pairing is an inspired one, the salt heightening the sweetness and fruitiness of the melon, making it taste even more like a cantaloupe than before. In these three recipes I explore that marriage, mixing cantaloupe with other salty and savory touches such as olives, fresh herbs, tomatoes, olive oil, hot chilies, garlic, prosciutto, and of course plain salt. I’ve stopped short of considering anchovies, an ingredient that I tend to use with just about anything but that’s just too fishy to go with a fruit, I think. I do like cantaloupe with shrimp, though. Try adding a handful of cubed cantaloupe to a cool, olive-oil-based shrimp salad. Very refreshing.

Summer herbs are very good additions to cantaloupe. The light, leafy ones seem to mate best with the melon’s sweetness and mild acidity. Tarragon, basil, parsley, and mint are my favorite choices. I’ve also had luck with herb combinations; basil with a touch of tarragon, and parsley with a few mint leaves are both lovely together (and work well with honeydew melon too). I love a touch of hot chili with cantaloupe too. The flavor reminds me a little of Tex-Mex salsas that contain mango, a mix I’ve always found interesting. Tomato with cantaloupe is also a surprisingly excellent duo. I’ve paired these two ingredients in a simple salad and, in a more experimental moment, with spaghetti. But I’ve also kept my Spaghetti with Cantaloupe and Hot Chilies Italian by adding garlic, basil, pine nuts, and good olive oil (resisting the temptation to create some kind of pan-Latin American pasta dish). The spaghetti really tastes wonderful, I think.

Now is the time to find great cantaloupe at your farmers’ market. My way of telling if a cantaloupe is ready to eat is by smelling it. If it smells like a cantaloupe, it’s ripe. If it smells like nothing, pass it by. They do ripen some after you get them home, but they’re best when you buy them fully ripe and juicy.

Cantaloupe and Tomato Salad with Black Olives and Tarragon

Black olives and tarragon make for an exquisite flavor fusion. I use them often in chicken stews, on lamb chops, and with sautéed zucchini, but they also work really well with sweet or acidic ingredients, as I discovered when I included them in this simple salad.

(Serves 4 as a first course)

3 medium summer tomatoes, sliced into thin rounds
1/4 small cantaloupe, seeded, peeled, and sliced
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
A handful of Niçoise olives
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Extra-virgin olive oil
A few large sprigs of tarragon, the leaves lightly chopped

On a large salad plate, alternate slices of tomato with cantaloupe. Scatter on the red onion and olives. Sprinkle with salt, and grind on some fresh black pepper. Give everything a tiny squeeze of lemon juice, and then drizzle with good olive oil. Scatter on the tarragon. Serve right away.

Cantaloupe Salad with Prosciutto, Frisée, and Basil

(Serves 4 as a first course)

12 thin slices cantaloupe, peeled and seeded
Salt
1 medium-size head frisée lettuce, washed, dried, and separated into individual leaves
1 red shallot, thinly sliced
8 very thin slices prosciutto di Parma, trimmed of excess fat and cut into strips
A handful of basil leaves
Extra-virgin olive oil
The juice and grated zest from 1/2 small lemon
Freshly ground black pepper

Lay three slices of cantaloupe each on the perimeters of four salad plates, and give them a sprinkling of salt.

Place the frisée, shallot, prosciutto, and basil in a salad bowl. Drizzle with enough olive oil to coat everything lightly (probably a little less than two tablespoons). Add the lemon juice and zest, a tiny pinch of salt (remember that the prosciutto is salty), and a generous amount of fresh black pepper. Toss gently and mound on the salad plates inside the cantaloupe slices. Serve right away.

Spaghetti with Cantaloupe and Hot Chilies

The chili here brings out the sweetness of the cantaloupe, and the tomato adds acidity and juiciness, to make for a really elegant play of flavors. I like to serve this as a palate opener for a summer dinner, maybe followed by a grilled fish.

(Serves 6 as a first course)

4 round medium-size summer tomatoes, seeded and cut into small dice
Salt
1/4 small cantaloupe, seeded and cut into small dice
1 small, fresh hot chili, minced (and seeded if you like less heat)
1 large summer garlic clove, minced
A handful of basil leaves, lightly chopped
A handful of pine nuts, lightly toasted
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound spaghetti

Place the tomatoes in a colander and sprinkle them with salt. Give them a toss and let them drain for about 30 minutes.

Set up a large pot of pasta cooking water and bring it to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt.

In a large serving bowl, add the drained tomatoes, cantaloupe, chili, garlic, basil, and pine nuts. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and season with salt.

Cook the spaghetti al dente, and drain well. Add it to the sauce, and toss well. Taste for seasoning. The salad should have a nice balance among sweet, salt, spice, and acid. Serve right away.