Cured ham with melon

Cured ham with melon and drunken plums

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

  1. One day before: half the plums, place them in a jar and pour the port until completely submerged. Leave to soak for one day.
  2. 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.
  3. Peel the melon, discard the seeds and slice thinly.
  4. Divide the melon on serving plates, cover with the ham, ground some black pepper and sprinkle with a bit of olive oil.
  5. Add the soaked plums, drizzle some of the port and finish off with a couple of spoons of mayonnaise and some rocket leaves.

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