Prosciutto Melon Salad

My oldest cat Gidget and I have something in common. We're both completely content to munch on fresh mint leaves. For her, it's equivalent to catnip and leaves her rolling around on the floor, rubbing her face on everything as she contorts her body in the way only cats can. For me, it's just a fresh, crisp flavor that I absolutely love.

I've had a hard time growing mint this year. I don't have a balcony or yard (#apartmentlifeproblems) so I keep my fresh herbs indoors in the sun room. My first mint plant was paired with parsley and I don't know what happened but both of them died off rather within a few weeks. (It might have been too early in the season.)

My second mint plant, I had it share a pot with basil. They say that mint is a plant that will take over whatever space you give it and then some. They basil is a finicky plant that dies easily. Not my basil. It hoarded all of the water and its roots choked out the mint. I mean, really? Have you ever seen basil kill mint? That seems impossible.

My basil is a bully. :/

Now, in a pot all on its own, my mint plant is quite happy to take over the whole pot and bask in sunlight. So now that you're aware of my fresh herb growing issues, lets get onto the point of this post, yeah?

Today is Improv Challenge day. If you're not familiar with the concept, Improv Challenge is hosted by Edesia's Notebook and each month bloggers have two ingredients they're given. They create a recipe and we share it on the third Thursday of every month. You can skip a month or three, there's no requirements. But if you do participate, you add an Inlinkz code so the other bloggers recipes are linked to yours.

The two ingredients for June are melon and mint. I immediately knew I wanted to make a salad I had pinned some time ago. Plus, it included prosciutto and you know I will never turn down a chance to work with prosciutto.

Prosciutto Melon Salad
Adapted from: Cooking Light, July 2012
Servings: 4
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Ingredients:

2 cups seedless watermelon, sliced into wedges

2 cups honeydew melon, sliced into wedges

2 cups cantaloupe, sliced into wedges

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 ½ tablespoon honey

4 cups arugula

¼ cup fresh mint leaves

3 oz. prosciutto, trimmed and thinly sliced

½ oz. Romano cheese, shaved

Directions:
1. Combine watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe in a bowl and sprinkle the kosher salt on top.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the fresh lemon juice, olive oil and honey. Drizzle over the fruit and toss to combine.
3. Combine arugula and mint together and then divide evenly over four plates.
4. Divide the fruit mixture onto the plates.
5. Top with sliced prosciutto and Romano cheese.

You know how sometimes the flavors of a salad all muddle together and you can pretty much just taste crunch and dressing? This salad is not like that at all. Every single bite you take, no matter what ingredients are on your fork shine through individually in a complex combination of flavors that dance along your taste buds. While that sounds a bit much, it's honestly the best way I can describe the salad.