Rockmelon Salsa

November 16, 2007

When you see stone fruit starting to appear, it’s a reminder that the silly season is rapidly approaching. The first nectarines at my local market were fairly hard and, according to one of the shoppers having a sneaky preview, a bit on the sour side. But the peaches looked great and turned out to be real chin drippers.

I was looking for some fruit to make a salsa when I spied some perfect rock melons so I bought one for our weekend barbecue. Freshly made salsa can give steaks, kebabs and pan-fried fish a real lift.

With salad greens obtainable year-round, it’s sometimes good to give the ubiquitous leaf salad a miss and concentrate on some of the produce now moving onto the greengrocer’s shelves.

Fresh green beans blanched then dressed with a walnut oil vinaigrette and sprinkled with toasted walnuts will lend a nice colour contrast.

Today’s salsa recipe features my melon purchase, but you can substitute mangos, fresh pineapple or well-flavoured truss tomatoes.

While I buy bags of hot chillies and keep them in the freezer until required, lately I’ve been substituting sambal oelek. You can find this in a jar in the Asian ingredients section at the supermarket. It’s a red chilli paste combined with salt and vinegar and works well in recipes like this.

Rock Melon Salsa

1/2 rock melon (cut lengthwise)
1/2 red capsicum, finely chopped
1 medium red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
2 tablespoons finely shredded mint leaves
1 or 2 teaspoons sambal oelek
juice of 2 limes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Remove the seeds from the melon. Cut the halves into lengthwise quarters and peel, then halve each quarter horizontally and finely dice. Place in a roomy bowl with  the capsicum, onion, coriander and mint then add the sambal oelek, lime juice, oil and salt and toss well to combine. Refrigerate until required. Spoon into an attractive serving dish and garnish with slices or wedges of lime.

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