How to cook original melon salads at home? TOP 6 recipes with photos. Culinary tips and secrets. Video recipes.
Melon is a southern fruit with a delicate aroma and pleasant taste. It tastes good on its own, but it also goes well with most other foods. For example, melon makes delicious and light salads. In addition to taste, it is also low-calorie, so it is ideal for a diet menu and those people who are watching their figure.
Melon Salad Secrets
- For the salad to be delicious, you should buy the ripe fruit. When choosing, inspect the fruit for mechanical damage and suspicious spots on the crust. A good melon looks beautiful without cracks, spots or dents.
- The ripeness of the melon is primarily indicated by its smell. The ripe fruit gives off a fresh and delicate rich aroma with notes of honey, flowers and vanilla.
- The peel of a ripe melon should bend and springy when pressed with a finger. If the crust is hard, the melon is green, and if a hole remains after pressing, the berry is overripe.
- A ripe fruit is heavy in weight, and when tapped, it emits a dull, not sonorous sound.
- A mature berry has a dry tail, and a flower trace is soft.
- The color and shape of the melon can be different. The fruit can be mesh, smooth, round, oblong.
- Having cut the berry, look at the seeds - they should be large and easily come off the pulp.
- The color of the pulp can be different, it depends on the variety.
- A sign of an excess of nitrates is the presence of longitudinal veins, a gray tint and empty seeds.
- Melons grown with fertilizers usually do not have a rich aroma.
- If you want to keep the melon until spring, keep it at 0-3 degrees Celsius. But at temperatures closer to zero, it will begin to freeze and lose its beneficial properties.
- Store the cut fruit only in the refrigerator. But do not overdo it, because harmful ethylene gas may be released. Above temperatures, the shelf life will be reduced.
- For salads, it is better to choose a melon with a dense pulp. Strongly juicy varieties will give a lot of liquid, from which the dish will turn out to be watery. Ideal varieties for salad are musky and cantaloupe.
- In salted salads, melon goes well with poultry (duck, chicken, turkey), ham, cheese, ham, seafood, tomatoes, cucumbers.
- Salads with pears are seasoned with mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, sour cream, vegetable oil.
- If the salad with melon is fruit, it is seasoned with sauces with alcohol, honey. Enhance the taste of food with lemon peel or juice.
- Citrus fruits can help preserve the color of other fruits that tend to darken when cut, such as apples and pears.
- Any salads for beauty and piquancy are sprinkled with almonds, pistachios, pine nuts.
See also how to make salty melon salad.
Melon and cheese salad
Melon and cheese salad is striking in its simple preparation. It is unusual and tastes great. Any cheese is suitable for the recipe, for example, curd cheese, feta, mozzarella, feta cheese …
- Caloric content per 100 g - 129 kcal.
- Servings - 3
- Cooking time - 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- Cheese - 200 g
- Freshly ground black pepper - pinch
- Basil - 3-4 fresh leaves
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Cucumbers - 2 pcs.
- Melon - 300 g
- Salt - a pinch
Cooking Melon and Cheese Salad:
- Wash the melon, peel it, select the seeds and cut into pieces.
- Rinse the cucumbers, cut off the ends and cut into half rings. Their size should not be smaller than the melon slices.
- Wash basil leaves, dry and cut into thin strips.
- Chop the cheese into cubes.
- Place melon slices, sliced cucumber, cheese and basil in a salad bowl.
- Season food with salt, freshly ground pepper and top with high quality olive oil without bitter taste.
- Gently mix everything and serve immediately or pre-chill in the refrigerator under cling film for half an hour.
Melon and chicken salad
Melon and chicken salad is not really a dietary menu, but it is low in calories and much healthier than a plate of fried potatoes. Therefore, such a salad will saturate for a long time and can be used as a full-fledged dinner.
Ingredients:
- Boiled chicken fillet - 1 pc.
- Melon - 300 g
- Cucumber - 1 pc.
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
- Salt - a pinch
- Fresh herbs (any) - several branches
- Ground black pepper - to taste
Cooking Melon and Chicken Salad:
- Wash and dry the melon, peel and select seeds, cut into slices and place in a bowl.
- Cut the pre-cooked and chilled chicken fillet into slices or tear it by hand.
- Wash cucumbers, dry and cut into slices.
- Rinse the greens, dry and chop finely.
- Combine olive oil, lemon juice, salt, ground black pepper and mix with a fork.
- Season the salad with the sauce, stir and serve, garnish with sesame seeds.
Melon and ham salad
Melon with dry-cured ham is a classic refreshing appetizer that is appetizing. The union is based on a long-tested and well-proven combination of sweet and salty. It is best to serve such a treat with a glass of light dry red wine.
Ingredients:
- Ham - 4 slices
- Parmesan - 50 g
- Melon - 150 g
- Greens to taste
- Salt - a pinch
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Balsamic vinegar - 1 tablespoon
Preparing a salad with melon and ham:
- Peel and seed the washed melon and cut into small pieces.
- Cut the ham into small slices.
- Cut the parmesan into medium pieces or grate on a coarse grater.
- Wash greens, dry and chop finely.
- In a salad bowl, combine ham, parmesan, melon, herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Chill the salad in the refrigerator for 15 minutes and serve.
Fruit salad with melon
The classic melon fruit salad recipe can be served on the festive table as a dessert!
Ingredients:
- Melon - 150 g
- Watermelon - 150 g
- Seedless grapes - 100 g
- Nectarine - 1 pc.
- Lemon juice - 3 tablespoons
- Almond petals - for decoration
Cooking Melon Fruit Salad:
- Wash melon and watermelon, dry, peel, select seeds and cut into equal slices.
- Wash the nectarine, remove the pit and cut into cubes.
- Wash, dry the grapes and remove the berries from the vine.
- Place melon, watermelon, grapes and nectarine in a bowl.
- Sprinkle the fruit with lemon juice, stir and serve, garnish with almond petals.
Melon and shrimp salad
A refreshing salad for lovers of spicy exoticism and seafood lovers. Delicious and juicy shrimp pulp harmonizes well with sweet melon.
Ingredients:
- Melon - 150 g
- Boiled-frozen peeled shrimps - 150 g
- Salt - a pinch
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Wine vinegar - 1 tablespoon
- Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
- Lettuce leaves - 2 pcs.
Cooking Melon and Shrimp Salad:
- Wash the melon, dry it, peel it and cut it into cubes.
- Pour boiled-frozen peeled shrimps with water at room temperature to thaw them. Then dry them with a paper towel.
- Wash lettuce leaves, dry and tear by hand in random order.
- For dressing, combine olive oil with lemon juice, wine vinegar and olive oil.
- Combine melon, shrimp, lettuce and pour over the dressing.
Melon and Jamon Salad
Fans of meat and unusual salads will love the combination of fragrant melon with the most delicate ham and fresh salad leaves.
Ingredients:
- Salad mix (iceberg, arugula, romaine lettuce) - 300 g
- Jamon - 150 g
- Melon - 200 g
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Salt - a pinch
- Ground black pepper - a pinch
Cooking melon and ham salad:
- Wash the salad mix and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Wash the melon, remove the skin, peel the seeds and cut the flesh into small triangles.
- Gently divide the jamon into small pieces with your hands.
- Lay the salad mix in layers in a serving salad bowl, melon and ham on top.
- Make a dressing by mixing lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Season the melon salad with jamon with the sauce and serve.
Video recipes:
A refreshing salad of melon and arugula
