Melon

KANA OKADA

These fantastic recipes include refreshing watermelon salad and melon sorbet.

1 of 15

Melon, Berry and Feta Salad

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.

2 of 15

Melon Sorbet

Go to Recipe

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.

Cool Food for Hot Weather

3 of 15

Melon Soda

Go to Recipe

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.

Summer Drinks

4 of 15

Caramel-Lacquered Pork Belly with Quick-Pickled Honeydew

Go to Recipe

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

Go to Recipe

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

Summer Salads

6 of 15

Melon-and-Strawberry Salad with Spicy Lemongrass Syrup

HALLIE BURTON

Go to Recipe

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.

Fruit Salads

7 of 15

Melon Sparkler with Tapioca Pearls

Go to Recipe

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.

Summer Drinks

8 of 15

Grilled Squid Salad with Arugula and Melon

Go to Recipe

"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."

9 of 15

Salmon with Cantaloupe and Fried Shallots

Go to Recipe

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.

10 of 15

Cholo Fresco

TINA RUPP

Go to Recipe

Summer Drinks

11 of 15

Halekulani Melon Daiquiri

Go to Recipe

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.

12 of 15

Poached Shrimp, Melon and Frisée Salad

James Merrell

Go to Recipe

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.

13 of 15

Grilled Watermelon with Yogurt

Go to Recipe

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."

Cool Food for Hot Weather

14 of 15

Orecchiette with Prosciutto and Melon

Go to Recipe

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.

15 of 15

Grilled Scallops with Honeydew-Avocado Salsa

KANA OKADA

Go to Recipe

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.

Summer Grilling

Replay gallery

Your Profile

Melon

1 of 15

Melon, Berry and Feta Salad

1 of 15

2 of 15

Melon Sorbet

2 of 15

3 of 15

Melon Soda

3 of 15

4 of 15

Caramel-Lacquered Pork Belly with Quick-Pickled Honeydew

4 of 15

5 of 15

Melon-and-Peach Salad with Prosciutto and Mozzarella

5 of 15

6 of 15

Melon-and-Strawberry Salad with Spicy Lemongrass Syrup

6 of 15

7 of 15

Melon Sparkler with Tapioca Pearls

7 of 15

8 of 15

Grilled Squid Salad with Arugula and Melon

8 of 15

9 of 15

Salmon with Cantaloupe and Fried Shallots

9 of 15

10 of 15

Cholo Fresco

10 of 15

11 of 15

Halekulani Melon Daiquiri

11 of 15

12 of 15

Poached Shrimp, Melon and Frisée Salad

12 of 15

13 of 15

Grilled Watermelon with Yogurt

13 of 15

14 of 15

Orecchiette with Prosciutto and Melon

14 of 15

15 of 15

Grilled Scallops with Honeydew-Avocado Salsa

15 of 15

Share the Gallery

Up Next

Share the Gallery