Prosciutto with Melon

Name: Prosciutto with Melon: Classic Italian Appetizer
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Ripe sweet melon 0.5 melon; Prosciutto 200 g; Arugula optional

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15 mins

Prosciutto with melon is the simplest Italian appetizer, with a rather unusual combination of ingredients. A classic of Italian cuisine and a summer recipe that gets repeated at least once a day somewhere. If you want it, you can always spare a couple of minutes for cooking. Any sweet melon of any variety will do, plus Parma ham prosciutto, which you can traditionally find in any store.

The recipe for this Italian appetizer is so simple that it may be one of the most reliable recipes there is: slice the melon and combine it with thinly sliced prosciutto. Nothing complicated, right? Still, what prosciutto with melon looks like depends on the original presentation and serving. Often it is quite unexpected. If you are not used to it, many people can’t tell what they have been served until they taste it.

The main component of the appetizer is prosciutto. In Italian, the word prosciutto means ham. The best hams are rubbed with sea salt, sometimes with spices added, and dry-cured. The pigs for prosciutto, especially around Parma, are fed in a special way, with corn, fruit and Parmesan whey in their diet. The salted hams are air-dried for almost a year, and the prosciutto becomes almost firm and incredibly aromatic.

Prosciutto is not heat-treated, otherwise it turns into something like chips and loses its aroma and flavor. When making prosciutto pizza, the ham is simply scattered over the finished pizza right before serving. The best way to serve this ham is considered to be with figs or sweet melon. Italian prosciutto with melon is the best way to serve it, see for yourself.

The Italian appetizer prosciutto e melone, prosciutto with melon, is made with very thinly sliced ham, practically transparent. Slices of peeled sweet melon are tossed together with thin strips of ham or wrapped in them like little rolls. The presentation is often quite elaborate: the simplicity of the recipe is more than made up for by the cook’s imagination at serving time. Sometimes a mild-flavored green, arugula or lettuce, is added when serving.

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Ingredients

4 servings

Ripe sweet melon 0.5 melon
Prosciutto 200 g
Arugula optional

Step-by-step recipe

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Melon

A good melon for a good appetizer should be fragrant and sweet. Unless you are in Italy, the variety can be anything. But it’s better if the melon isn’t too juicy. When choosing a melon, people usually smell it: a strong aroma is a sign that it is ripe and perfect for the appetizer. Many believe that prosciutto with melon should be made with yellow flesh. Others say the color doesn’t matter.
Cut the ripe melon in half.
Scoop the seeds into a bowl with a spoon. Also scrape off the inner layer next to the flesh, where the seeds are attached.
By the way, as kids we used to dry these seeds, roast them and eat them.
Cut off the rind and cut the flesh into cubes, diamonds, slices, etc. Any shape you like.
If you have a suitable kitchen tool for scooping balls out of fruit and vegetable flesh, scoop balls about 25 mm in diameter from the flesh.
Once, on a whim, I bought an inexpensive carving tool, the kind used for artistic carving of vegetables and fruit. You can also use it to cut a melon in half, making a nice zigzag edge.

Prosciutto

Slice the ham into the thinnest strips you can.
Prosciutto is often sold already sliced, or you can have it sliced at the supermarket when you buy it. The latter is preferable, because you can see the quality of the piece being sliced.

Serving

The appetizer can be served on an ordinary plate, in a bowl or in a large glass. It looks very nice served in the melon itself, using the part of the shell left after slicing out the flesh. Decide for yourself. I chose to serve it in large glasses, so I simply scooped balls from the flesh, a full bowl of them.
Layer the melon balls or slices and the prosciutto slices in the dish, mixed together. Thin slices of ham can be folded like an accordion or rolled up, and pieces of melon can be wrapped in ham. Use your imagination.
If you like, add a little arugula, just 4-5 leaves per serving.
I added just a few arugula leaves: they didn’t add any smell or change the taste, but they brightened up the colors. The Italian appetizer is often also served with a thin breadstick wrapped in prosciutto, and so on.
If you can, make the appetizer with a mix of yellow and white melon slices; it looks amazing. Sometimes melon with prosciutto is served with fresh green basil, but to me its smell and taste are too sharp. Basil is better for vegetable or cheese appetizers, such as caprese. By the way, if you thread the melon slices and prosciutto onto skewers, you get original little appetizer kebabs.

Calories and macros

160 kcal

Serving ≈ 150 g

Protein14 g35% of kcal
Fat8 g46% of kcal
Carbs8 g19% of kcal

100 g105 kcalProtein 9 gFat 5.4 gCarbs 5 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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