Melon

By Food & Wine
Updated October 05, 2016
Credit: KANA OKADA
These fantastic recipes include refreshing watermelon salad and melon sorbet.
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1 of 15

Melon, Berry and Feta Salad

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Jenn Louis uses whatever melon looks best at the market, and she sometimes swaps out the feta for ricotta salata, or the chives for mint.

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2 of 15

Melon Sorbet

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Jenni Britton's easy sugar syrup can be mixed with almost any fruit puree and churned in an ice cream maker to make sorbet. During the summer, she loves sorbets made with locally grown heirloom melons and ruby-red sour cherries.

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Melon Soda

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Daniel Shoemaker cleverly combines dill, cilantro and cantaloupe juice in a soda that echoes the botanical flavors of the Southside’s gin and mint. The soda can be mixed into cocktails, but it’s fantastic all by itself.

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Caramel-Lacquered Pork Belly with Quick-Pickled Honeydew

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The key to this dish is the rich Vietnamese-inspired dark caramel. "A little bitterness in the caramel makes it more complex," Andrea Reusing says. "I often tell home cooks to take the caramel as far as they think they can, then pull it off the heat and let stand for a minute before adding the other ingredients."

5 of 15

Melon-and-Peach Salad with Prosciutto and Mozzarella

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Chef Andy Glover used smoked pork, but prosciutto is also tasty.

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Melon-and-Strawberry Salad with Spicy Lemongrass Syrup

Credit: HALLIE BURTON
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Chiles add subtle heat to this exceptional fruit salad. Grace Parisi likes using any syrup left in the fruit bowl for cocktails; she mixes a little of it into rum and pours the drink over ice.

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7 of 15

Melon Sparkler with Tapioca Pearls

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Mixing honeydew juice with the fizzy Italian wine Moscato makes a super-refreshing cocktail. Melon balls and chewy tapioca pearls are fun to eat and cute to look at.

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Grilled Squid Salad with Arugula and Melon

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"I try to use seafood that's from the bottom of the food chain, like squid, prawns and clams. It's cheaper and tastier,"says Gjelina chef Travis Lett. "That's why we'll always have grilled squid on the menu."

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Salmon with Cantaloupe and Fried Shallots

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John Shields composed this dish from ingredients he picked up at his local supermarket. The magic is in the play of textures and flavors: The salmon skin and shallots—both potato-chip crisp— are wonderful with the tender, flaky fish and sweet pieces of melon.

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10 of 15

Cholo Fresco

Credit: TINA RUPP
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11 of 15

Halekulani Melon Daiquiri

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This drink is based on a fancy nonalcoholic drink famed mixologist Dale DeGroff concocted at New York City's Rainbow Room. DeGroff uses orange bitters and amber rum to add spice and depth.

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Poached Shrimp, Melon and Frisée Salad

Credit: James Merrell
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To make the dressing for this pretty salad, Daniel Humm takes the zesty poaching liquid for shrimp—flavored with coriander seeds, garlic, peppercorns and orange zest—and reduces it. The salad is wonderful as both a first course or a light main course.

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Grilled Watermelon with Yogurt

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This is Michael Psilakis's modern take on the traditional Greek combination of watermelon and feta cheese. It features the creamy yogurt he grew up eating in New York's Long Island: "My mom made it at home all the time, and we'd snack on it with honey after school."

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Orecchiette with Prosciutto and Melon

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Don't be afraid of this strange-sounding dish. The prosciutto-and-melon combination we've always loved as an hors d'oeuvre tastes great with pasta and tomato sauce, too.

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Grilled Scallops with Honeydew-Avocado Salsa

Credit: KANA OKADA
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To go with grilled scallops, Marcia Kiesel creates her own version of salsa verde by combining sweet honeydew and buttery avocado in a fruit salsa (yes, avocado is a fruit). The salsa is what wine geeks call "round in flavor," meaning it's not too tart or tangy, and it would be excellent with an equally "round" oaked California Chardonnay.

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