Obviously, the name of this recipe is 15-17: Summery Cantaloupe, and if you’ve seen any of the pictures of the recipe (like above, as a header image), you’ve put it together that the melon pictured is in fact, not a cantaloupe.
The CSA box that week provided a very nice watermelon, and so that’s what I went with for part of my Mother’s Day 2019 brunch (MD2019). Yes, I’m also behind on writing these up.
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I’ve made Simply Delicious fruit salads for Mother’s Day before–if you’re looking for similar ideas, check out 15-19: Layered Fruit Salad and 15-30: Champagne Sundaes from 2017‘s brunch. If you’re up for the challenge of carving a cantaloupe (or in my case, watermelon), continue on.
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The ingredients here suggest that alternative melons can be used, so I stand by my watermelon choice. Pictures are provided of the melon carving–it’s similar to taking the top off of a pumpkin to carve at Halloween. 🎃
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My ingredients: Aforementioned watermelon pictured. I chose port wine instead of sherry, because I’m tired of this wine bottle taking up space in my fridge, so I’m trying to use it as often as possible.
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My attempt at watermelon carving. Not terrible–I’ve had some practice on pumpkins.
If you look closely, I drew my lines out ahead of time using a green permanent marker, and used the natural markings of the watermelon as a guide as to spacing out the peak/valley pattern.
After drawing out the lines, just use a long, sharp knife (CAREFULLY) and poke it all the way in and pull it out (one line at a time) following the pattern all the way around. If your knife was long enough and your pattern was somewhat even enough, the lid should just lift off like mine.
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After scooping out the watermelon–the “melon meat” will get cut up and combined with the berries.
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Prepping the berries (with the help of coffee).
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Tossing the berries with the melon pieces.
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Straining the rest of the melon pieces to get the juice.
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Mixed in the honey and wine (hence the darker color) along with the other marinade ingredients, and tossed it with the fruit.
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After mixing all the ingredients, I put everything back into the melon.
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Melon, with lid–which still fit! It made a fun dish for the brunch (which also included 15-10: Frozen Raspberry Desserts and 15-23: Kiwi Mousse in Chocolate Cups), and we turned the leftover fruit salad into a smoothie. 🍉
Grade: A-