This is a spectacularly refreshing salad, especially when it is made when cantaloupe melons are at their densely honeyed best. You can roast your own peppers or get them out of a jar if you are in a hurry but do make sure your tomatoes are sumptuously ripe. The bread will soften by soaking up all the fruity juices. This is one to make throughout the summer.
The honey in this recipe offers a two-fer -- not only does its ambrosial sweetness play beautifully with fragrant melon and fresh mint, it also keeps the puree from freezing solid, making it easier to scrape the granita into a gorgeous, fluffy pile of sweet snow, even in the middle of summer.
Melons and cucumbers are naturals together -- they're practically siblings in the botanical world -- but cooks rarely pair them. Here, they get some Mediterranean attitude with mint and garlic, making them into the coolest possible essence of summer-in-a-bowl.
What's not to love when with an effortless twist a dish becomes something brand-new? Puree the Cantaloupe Thai Chile Basil Salad with an adjustment or two, and you will have a soup that is heaven in a bowl at the end of a steamy summer commute home.
Note: Have everything cut and ready, but mix just before serving.
You think tomatoes do a lot for a salad? Wait until you taste what cantaloupe or other melons can achieve. Why we don’t use them this way all the time is a mystery.
A perfect summer combination making a light salad from fresh melon and tarragon.
The credit for this delightfully refreshing and extravagantly simple little amuse-bouche, or palate teaser, goes to chef Patrice Barbot at restaurant l'Astrance, in Paris.
A melon salad is not a typical opening to a meal in Italy.