Melon salad with ham

 

I officially finished work for the summer a week ago. It has taken me that long to stop looking at the clock. During my normal teaching day, I have 7 classes and about 175 students to teach. Every day the timetable is different and the clock is important. And now here I am on Friday, and I can dictate what I will do during the day! It is wonderful! My husband goes to work earlier and comes home from work earlier. So, around 15:30 in the afternoon I have lunch ready and we have lunch together. Remarkably, the bags under my eyes have decreased significantly and I am so much more relaxed. In September, school starts again so I will enjoy the free time that I have now. One of the things I made today for lunch was this gloriously simple but delicious salad. I could eat a whole melon by myself..I love them SO much! But who would have thought that the flavour of melon would be so incredible with ham? Just genius!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Galia melon
• 100 gr of sliced Serrano ham or other cured ham
• 3 tablespoons  olive oil
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1 sprig of fresh mint
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Cut the melon in half and remove the seeds.
2. Using a melon baller or round spoon take out spoonfuls of melon.
3. Set aside the melon rind to be used as a bowl.
4. In a bowl, mix the melon pieces and ham together and put them in the melon rinds. Put the salads in the fridge.
5. Mix the orange juice, vinegar, olive oil , salt pepper and mint. Taste to see if you want to add more juice or vinegar etc.  Drizzle over the salads when ready to serve.