Melon and Prosciutto with Pink Pepper and Rosemary

Pink peppercorns, it turns out, are not peppercorns at all. Which explains how they can taste completely different (peppery, but also fruity and spicy with a kind of white chocolate thing going on in the background). It also explains why they pair so well with chocolate, and why they can do such interesting things to a recipe like this one.
 
Ingredients
1/2 ripe cantaloupe, cut into 1-inch cubes
2-3 oz thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into strips
Freshly ground pink peppercorns
Small sprig rosemary, finely chopped
Spoonful balsamic reduction (optional)

Wrap each piece of melon with a strip of prosciutto and arrange on a plate. Sprinkle with a pinch or two of chopped rosemary, and then grind the pink peppercorns liberally over the top. Dab each piece with just a drop of balsamic reduction if desired, and serve.

Serves 2 for an appetizer, or spear each piece with a toothpick for hors d'oeuvres.

(To make a balsamic reduction, heat a tbsp of balsamic vinegar in a small pot until it simmers. Turn heat down and simmer until volume is reduced by half.)

Quick and Classy: Fruit-Filled Melon

After our melon with moscato, it was really only a matter of time before we started dunking more fruit into wine. The arrival of miniature honeydew melons in our CSA box gave us the perfect excuse to try again, this time with late season peaches from Ikeda's and some leftover anise hyssop from the produce box. You could use pretty much any fruit here, or even just a different color melon.

Ingredients
A smallish melon, halved
Peaches, peeled and cut into pieces
Moscato or another sweet dessert wine (or champagne -- just don't let it soak so long that it goes flat)
Anise hyssop, chiffonade (optional)

Fill the melon with peaches, then pour moscato over. Refrigerate during dinner to let the wine soak into the fruit a little, then garnish with anise hyssop and serve.

Melon with Moscato

We found a "farmer's wife melon," apparently from Russia, in our CSA box last week. The insert that comes in our box suggested filling it with dessert wine, which struck us as a brilliant idea (filling things with wine usually does).

Ingredients

A farmer's wife melon (or another smallish melon)
Moscato (e.g., Trader Joe's 2009 late harvest Moscato)
Berries
Mint (optional)


Halve the melon and scoop out the seeds. Fill each half with Moscato and let sit in the fridge for a few hours. Garnish with berries and mint, and serve with a spoon (or add the berries into the moscato-filled center, as we eventually did with ours, which was amazing).