Two ingredients, two thousand years of correctness: sweet cold melon draped in salty prosciutto. The knife work and the fruit ARE the recipe.
1/2
🍈 Cantaloupe ›
ripe — it should perfume the room
100 g
🥓 Prosciutto ›
sliced to transparency
1 pinch
⚫ Whole Black Peppercorns ›
cracked
2 tbsp
🫒 Olive Oil ›
optional, your best
Mise en place
Before you start
Prep checklist
Cantaloupe — ripe — it should perfume the room
Prosciutto — sliced to transparency
Whole Black Peppercorns — cracked
Olive Oil — optional, your best
Seed and slice the cold melon into elegant crescents; drape (never wrap tightly) each with a prosciutto ribbon.
💡
The melon does the heavy lifting — buy it heavy for its size, fragrant at the stem, and serve it cold against room-temp ham.
Cracked pepper, and — if you must gild it — a thread of oil and torn basil. Serve within 15 minutes; salt draws melon juice fast.
Taste before serving and adjust salt and acid — the last 30 seconds of seasoning matter more than any single ingredient.
Afterwards
Keep, reheat & pair
Storage
Airtight container, 3 days.
Freezing
Usually better fresh.
Reheating
A hot dry pan or 180°C oven re-crisps almost anything in 3–5 minutes.
Make ahead
Portion into grab-and-go containers; most keep 3 days.
Wine pairing
Whatever's open.
Beer pairing
Whatever's cold.
On the plate
Serve it with
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