Dive into this twist on the classic pairing of cantaloupe and prosciutto with my amazing Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad. Mounds of fluffy butter lettuce piled together with the prosciutto and grilled cantaloupe, then sprinkled with cucumbers, fresh mint, and chili-lime cashews. Served with ginger-lime dressing on the side.
Juicy melons and delicate salty prosciutto are a classic pairing. I've often seen them wrapped together as an appetizer or presented as a sprawling platter of balled canteloupe and watermelon with of prosciutto, fresh herbs, and lots of fresh cracked pepper. Here is another version you can try! Serve it a la carte, or pair it with some delish Mesquite Grilled Chicken.
Read on for all the loving details to make Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad.
Jump to:
- Featured Ingredients
- Tools for the job
- How to make Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad
- Hot Tip!
- Assembling the Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad
- Substitutions and Variations for Melon and Prosciutto Salad
- Leftover Melon and Prosciutto Salad
- Food Safety
- How do you like your vegetables?
- Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad
- 💬 Comments
Featured Ingredients
Read below about a few of the ingredients used to make a Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad.
Ginger Lime Dressing
Salad Ingredients
Lettuce - I chose butter lettuce for this salad because of its soft, bouncy texture and beautiful green color. This type of lettuce is packaged in plastic clamshells, with the roots still attached for freshness! You can also find butter lettuce precut in bags at the grocery store.
Melon - Canteloupe's bright orange color and solid texture hold up well on the grill. It also helps soften the fruit so you can bite through it on the salad easier.
Prosciutto - Meaning "ham" in Italian, this thinly sliced cured meat is delicate and salty. The rich flavor gives balance to fresh or cooked vegetables as well as the perfect pairing for many cheeses. A little goes a long way, so don't worry about the minimal amount used in this salad.
Ginger - I like to use the ginger paste found in a tube in the produce department of the grocery store. It blends well into the other dressing ingredients and is so convenient. If you use fresh ginger, either mince it very well or use a food processor to mince it into a paste-like consistency.
Cashews - Chili-lime cashews have a slight heat and a serious tang, making a great crunchy topping for this salad. They can be found at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and many other stores, including online. If you can't find this type, Blue Diamond sells chili-lime almonds. You can also substitute roasted and salted plain cashews on this Melon and Prosciutto Salad.
See recipe card for quantities.
Tools for the job
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Sharp knife and cutting board
- Bowl and whisk or food processor
- Grill and tongs
- Salad spinner (optional)
How to make Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad
Most of the work here is in preparing the vegetables, which is not hard, but they do need a little love to get the best flavors and textures for your salad.
Make the dressing
- Add all the dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk quickly until it's completely combined. Taste for salt. You can also add all the ingredients to a jar with a lid and shake to combine.
- Alternatively, put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend the dressing until it's pale creamy yellow.
Prepare the salad vegetables
- First, clean and chop the butter lettuce. To start, trim the root off and remove the core from the head of lettuce. Angling a sharp knife under the root ball through the middle of the lettuce head, saw back and forth while spinning the head until you've returned to your starting point. Then, pop out the core.
- Submerge all the leaves in a bowl of water, gently pulling them apart. Agitate them in the water and then drain. Lay the leaves out on a paper towel to dry.
- Once they've dried, slice the lettuce into smaller pieces by stacking the leaves in like-size piles and quartering them using a sharp knife. Larger leaves can be cut down more, and smaller leaves can be halved or left intact.
- Alternatively, use a salad spinner to remove the dirt and dry the lettuce leaves.
- Next, slice the English cucumber in half through the middle. Then, slice that half longways from end to end. Using a small spoon, scrape the seeds from the middle. You'll be left with a "U" shaped cucumber, which can then be sliced into ⅛" pieces.
- Pull the mint leaves off the stems. You can use them whole or slice them into thin pieces by stacking the leaves and slicing crosswise to create julienned strips.
Remove the seeds with a spoon and slice thin.
Stack the mint leaves and slice across the stack to create thin ribbons.
Wash and slice the butter lettuce.
Roughly chop the cashews.
Prepare and grill the melon
To grill the cantaloupe, you'll want flat pieces that can withstand the grill's grates. I grill them in larger slices, then cut them into thirds when I add them to the Melon and Prosciutto Salad.
- Slice the rind off before cutting the melon open.
- Slice each end off, then, angling the knife, gently saw while pushing the knife down the curve of the melon toward the bottom. Continue until the entire rind has been removed.
- Then, cut the melon in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
- Next, lay the melon flat-side down and slice across short-ways into ¼" slabs.
- Heat the grill to 375°F.
- Toss the slices of melon in a tablespoon of oil and place on the grill.
- Cook for about 6 minutes, flipping once.
Grill oiled canteloupe at 375°F for 6 minutes, flipping once.
Quarter each slice of prosciutto and fold into pleats or rosettes.
Hot Tip!
How to prepare the Prosciutto:
Use a very sharp knife and deal with one piece at a time. It is sliced extremely thin, so handle it carefully. You'll notice it's packaged with papers between each slice. Prosciutto can be very sticky which is sometimes helpful and sometimes annoying. It is also super chewy, so traditionally, it is cut thin, making it easier to eat. Prosciutto is the easiest to eat when cooked, but uncooked is best consumed in smaller pieces.
- Cut one slice into four pieces.
- Pick up a strip, fold it into an accordion shape, and then pinch it at the bottom. (Here's where the stickiness is helpful)
- When you build your salad, tuck prosciutto folds here and there throughout the greens.
Assembling the Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad
This is the kind of salad that lives it's best life on a plate rather than in a bowl.
- Spread the butter lettuce pieces across a plate and place slices of grilled canteloupe melon here and there. I cut my slices into thirds for easier eating.
- Place pieces of prosciutto throughout the salad as well.
- Sprinkle the cucumber, mint, and chopped cashews all over the salad.
- Serve with the dressing on the side.
Substitutions and Variations for Melon and Prosciutto Salad
- Prosciutto - A flavorful substitute for prosciutto is thin-sliced herbed ham or little wedges of cooked and cooled sausage, like garlic apple chicken sausage or a lovely craft selection from your local butcher.
- Lettuce - This salad would be fantastic with mixed greens, baby kale, or arugula.
- Cashews - There are many variations on chili lime legumes, but other flavors would be great, too. I considered curried cashews, which would be super tasty! If you opt for a different nut, pick a salted one.
Leftover Melon and Prosciutto Salad
- Store leftover ingredients separately in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Food Safety
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
How do you like your vegetables?
Here are a few more of my fav recipes feature green things
Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Discover the perfect combination of sweet and salty with Grilled Melon and Prosciutto Salad. A refreshing summer dish packed with fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors.
Ingredients
- 1 head butter lettuce
- ¼th of a ripe cantaloupe
- 4 ounces prosciutto
- ½ English cucumber
- ½ cup chili-lime cashews, chopped
- mint, sliced thin
- olive oil for grilling
Ginger lime dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 ½ tablespoons ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1-2 tablespoons warm water to thin, if needed
Instructions
- First, make the ginger lime dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk until creamy. (Or, use a food processor.)Set aside.
- Next, clean the lettuce, then quarter the larger pieces with a sharp knife.
- Slice only half the cucumber longways and remove the seeds. Then slice across the cucumber into small pieces. Quarter each slice of prosciutto and bunch the pieces into rosettes, pinching at the bottom, and set aside on a plate.
- To grill the cantaloupe, Heat the grill to 375°F. Slice either end of the cantaloupe, then starting from the top, slice the rind off from end to end. Slice it in half and remove the seeds with a spoon. Lay the canteloupe half flat side down and cut across into ¼" pieces. Toss the slices in 1 tablespoon of oil and lay on the hot grill. Cook for 6 minutes, flipping once.
- Assemble the salad:
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- Spread the butter lettuce pieces across a plate and place slices of grilled canteloupe melon here and there. I cut my slices into thirds for easier eating.
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- Place pieces of prosciutto throughout the salad as well.
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- Sprinkle the cucumber, mint, and chopped cashews all over the salad.
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- Serve with the dressing on the side.
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- Prep Time: 35
- Cook Time: 5
- Category: Salad
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: American
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