During the spring and summer months, I want my kitchen overflowing with produce. Berries for breakfast, crisp lettuces for lunch, tomatoes for dinner. If it’s colorful and fresh, I want it on my plate.
And while tomatoes tend to steal the show this time of year (deservedly so), I think a few other fruits are overdue for their moment in the spotlight.
Take cantaloupe.
Most of us know it as the fruit that’s quietly hanging out in every hotel breakfast fruit salad, wedged somewhere between the honeydew and grapes. Not exactly glamorous. But when it’s perfectly ripe, cantaloupe is sweet, fragrant, juicy, and far more versatile than it gets credit for.
Enter this Prosciutto & Melon Panzanella Salad.
What Is Panzanella, Exactly?
A traditional panzanella is a Tuscan bread salad built around ripe tomatoes, stale bread, basil, olive oil, and vinegar. It’s a celebration of simple Italian summer ingredients, and honestly, it’s one of those dishes that proves you don’t need much to make something really good.
This version takes a slightly different route. Sweet cantaloupe replaces the tomatoes. Crispy prosciutto adds salty crunch. Toasted pistachios bring richness. Creamy burrata ties everything together. Fresh basil and mint keep it bright. And chunks of toasted sourdough are there to soak up every bit of that dressing.
It’s still a panzanella at heart. It just had a summer glow-up.
How to Pick a Good Cantaloupe
Since cantaloupe is the star of this salad, it’s worth taking a minute to make sure you’re picking a good one. A ripe cantaloupe should smell fragrant and sweet at the stem end. The skin under the netting should be more golden-beige than green. Give it a gentle press at the blossom end (opposite the stem) and it should have just a little give.
If it smells like nothing and feels like a rock, leave it. An underripe cantaloupe is mealy and bland, and no amount of dressing will fix that. Wait for the good one. It’s worth it.
A Few Notes on the Components
The bread. Don’t skip toasting the sourdough in olive oil on the stovetop. It takes a few minutes but you get golden, crispy, deeply savory croutons that are way better than anything you’d make in the oven. Tear, don’t cut, for rougher edges that get extra crispy and soak up the dressing beautifully.
The prosciutto. Baking it at 400°F until crispy takes about 5 minutes, but keep a close eye on it. Prosciutto goes from perfect to burnt faster than you’d expect, especially the thin, fatty slices. Once it comes out of the oven, let it cool completely before breaking it into pieces. It crisps up more as it cools.
The burrata. Tear it over the top of the salad at the very end, right before serving. You want it to stay soft and creamy in the middle rather than getting lost in the tossing process.
The dressing. It’s simple: olive oil, champagne vinegar, honey, and lemon zest. Bright, slightly sweet, and just acidic enough to balance the richness of the burrata and the saltiness of the prosciutto. Don’t skip the lemon zest. It makes everything taste more alive.
Make It Your Own
This salad is flexible. A few variations worth trying:
Swap the cantaloupe for another melon. Honeydew works great, and if you can find a good Galia or Crenshaw melon at a farmers market, even better.
No pistachios? Toasted pine nuts or walnuts would be delicious here too.
Want to make it a full meal? Add some arugula to the base for a little peppery bite, or lay the whole salad over a bed of prosciutto instead of tossing it in.
And if you can’t find champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar is a fine substitute.
Prosciutto & Melon Panzanella is the kind of dish that feels elegant enough for a dinner party but simple enough to throw together on a warm weeknight. It’s colorful, textural, and undeniably beautiful, which matters, because we all eat with our eyes first.
And if you’re looking for a reason to give cantaloupe a little more attention this summer, this salad is a pretty convincing argument.
Prosciutto & Melon Panzanella Salad
Recipe by Lauren WindhamCourse: SaladsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: EasyServings
4
servingsPrep time
30
minutesCooking time
10
minutesTotal time
30
minutes
Sweet cantaloupe, crispy prosciutto, toasted sourdough, creamy burrata, and fresh herbs come together in a summer salad that’s as beautiful as it is easy to pull off. This is the dish that finally gives cantaloupe the moment it deserves.
Ingredients
1 cantaloupe, balled
10 slices prosciutto
1 ball burrata
4-5 slices sourdough, torn
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped
1 bunch basil leaves
1 bunch mint
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Maldon salt
- Dressing
4 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp Champagne vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
Zest of 1 lemon
Directions
- Cut the cantaloupe in half, scrape out the seeds, and use a melon baller to make bite sized pieces.
- Tear the sourdough into pieces. Heat a large sauté pan to medium heat and toast the sourdough pieces in olive oil and a hefty pinch of kosher salt until golden brown and crisp around the edges.
- While the bread is toasting, bake the prosciutto at 400°F until crispy, about 5 minutes. (Keep an eye on it! The thin and fatty slices will burn quickly if you’re not careful.) Let cool, then break into pieces.
- Whisk together the dressing ingredients: olive oil, Champagne vinegar, honey, and lemon zest.
- Toss the cantaloupe, shallot, basil, mint, pistachios, and toasted bread with the dressing. Transfer to a serving platter and tear the burrata over the top.
- Finish with the crispy prosciutto, ground black pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and flaky salt.