Melon, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella Salad
Melon, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella Salad is a quick and easy summer side dish that will go great with all your Italian dinners. It only takes ten minutes to put together and it’s full of cantaloupe, prosciutto, mozzarella balls, and spring greens all tossed together with a white balsamic vinaigrette.
The Equipment You’ll Need
- A Salad Spinner- You’ll need this to get your lettuce nice and dry. If lettuce is wet, the dressing won’t cling to the leaves.
- A Small Jar- This is the quickest implement for mixing your dressing. Just shake it up in a little jar. After you dress tonight’s salad, you can store the rest of the dressing right in the jar for the next night.
The Ingredients Needed for Melon, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella Salad
- Cantaloupe- You’ll need a perfectly ripe cantaloupe for this recipe. My best tip for finding great cantaloupes is to find the store that has the best fruit in your area. At one of my favorite farm stands, they sell homegrown melons, and the owner will come over and tell you which ones are ripe. That kind of service is the best.
- Prosciutto- The best prosciutto is Prosciutto di Parma. For this recipe it’s helpful to have a good quality prosciutto, since it’s a big part of the salad.
- Fresh Mozzarella- I used bite sized mozzarella balls, but any fresh mozzarella is fine.
How I Made this Salad
- This is without a doubt the quickest and easiest recipe on my blog.
- First, I made the dressing. It is very important to taste your dressing. If it tastes too acidic, add more olive oil, or more honey.
- Next, I cut up the cantaloupe. We’ll eat the rest of the cantaloupe for snacks.
- Finally, I tossed all the ingredients together and used a little bit of the dressing. I’ll save the rest of the dressing for future meals.
I served this Melon, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella Salad with panini sandwiches. It was my daughter’s idea to have paninis for dinner, and they went really well with the salad. I made everyone’s sandwich a little differently, but they all had grilled chicken, pesto, and fresh mozzarella in them. Some of us also had pepperoni, and some of us added sun dried tomatoes. For dessert we had some fancy, gourmet ice cream sandwiches from a local ice cream parlor. All in all, it was a terrific salad and panini Saturday night!
Melon, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp. honey
- ⅛ tsp. black pepper
- 4 cups spring greens
- 8 mozzarella balls
- 2 cups cubed cantaloupe
- 4 slices prosciutto, rolled up
- 1 tbsp. fresh thyme
Instructions
- For the dressing: In a small jar, shake together the oil, vinegar, honey, and pepper.
- Toss the rest of the ingredients together in a salad bowl with your desired amount of dressing.
