Cured ham and melon is a true classic and the perfect appetizer to your dinners. This is my take on this dish, adding a little twist to give it extra depth. A while back, I received a jar of dried plums soaking in port; so good! As I didn’t want to eat them all at once (which was very likely) I wanted to integrate them in a simple dish and then I remembered our friend Mikael in France once serving us melon filled with port; a lovely refreshing start to the dinner. That’s how it all came together: melon, cured ham, drunken plums! To give the dish some creaminess and little edge, I added some shallot mayonnaise, et voilà! Done! A classic with a twist.
Ingredients
Difficulty
For 2 persons
- 6-8 rashers of Serrano ham
- Half a Cantaloupe melon (or another sweet melon)
- Olive oil
- Black pepper
- Rocket
Plums
- 4 dried plums
- Red port
Shallot mayonnaise
- Half a shallot
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon musterd
- 250 ml vegetable oil (sun flower of peanut)
Directions
- One day before: half the plums, place them in a jar and pour the port until completely submerged. Leave to soak for one day.
- For the mayonnaise, finely chop the shallot. Put the egg, mosterd, lemon juice and shallots in a small container and pour the oil on top. Push a handheld blender all the way, start mixing and pulling the blender very slowly up.
- Peel the melon, discard the seeds and slice thinly.
- Divide the melon on serving plates, cover with the ham, ground some black pepper and sprinkle with a bit of olive oil.
- Add the soaked plums, drizzle some of the port and finish off with a couple of spoons of mayonnaise and some rocket leaves.
