Grilled cantaloupe salad with hazelnuts, toasted coconut, pecorino, and herbs

Type:

Vegeterian, Gluten free

Categories:

Salads

Serves:

1 large bowl to serve 1/2

About the Recipe:

This is a lovely little summer salad that also works well with persimmons. Its a nice side for fish as well. Grilling the melon makes its smoky and caramelised, bringing out the flavour. I always dress all my salads with lots of herbs, but here coriander is important as it goes so well with the coconut and masala spiced melon.

Ingredients:

Salad:

1 head of gem lettuce

27g hazelnuts in skin

491g cantaloupe/ half of a small fruit

2 tbsp braai masala/can replace with wet seafood masala (see recipe)

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

25g pecorino

8g basil/rolled together and thinly sliced

5g coriander/picked from stem

5g mint/thinly sliced leaving a few small sprigs to plate

15g coconut chips

Dressing:

Yields 1 serving/58g

1 tbsp balsamic

2 tbsp hazelnut oil

1 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp Dijon mustard

Juice of one lime

½ tsp salt

½ tsp honey

Method:

Whisk together in a small bowl until combined.

Braai Spice

Ingredients:

Makes on large batch/525g

2 tsp each:

Dried coriander

Dried basil

Dried chives

Dried lemongrass

Dried lime leaf

Toasted mustard seed

Dried oregano

Salt

Sugar

1 sheet toasted nori

Lemon zest from four lemons

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Method:

Toast seeds and nori in a dry pan. Blend with remaining ingredients, mix well, store in a tight container.

Salad Assembly

Method:

Preheat oven to 175C. Heat a grill pan to high heat. Remove outer leaves of lettuce, rinse, and pat dry. Quarter and place into serving bowl, laying on top of each other to create height.

Put hazelnuts into the oven to toast for 5-8 minutes. After they are toasted, put the hazelnuts in a tea towel and squeeze from the top into a sack with one hand holding all the sides together and the other hand rubbing away at the skins through the cloth. The skins should easily crumble off. Crush roughly in a mortar and pestle.

De-seed, quarter, and peel the melon. Put the Braai spice on a large plate and roll the melon around in it. Coat the grill pan with oil, rubbing in with a paper towel so it doesn’t pool up into the ribs. Grill melon on all three sides and set aside to cool. The sugars in the melon will cook it quickly so each side needs only about a couple of minutes maximum. The pan needs to be quite hot or it will stick.

Grate the cheese on a microplane. Lightly toast the coconut chips.

To Plate:

Plate the melon on top of the lettuce, creating some height around the lettuce. Sprinkle some of the cheese and a bit of the herbs. Add the nuts, then the chips, the rest of the cheese, and then the rest of the herbs, layering as you go. Put a few tiny mint leaves at the top. Serve the dressing on the side.