Oh my, this is sooooo goooood!!!!! We absolutely nailed this one. You have to try it while cantaloupes are still abundant and ripe!
I have been wanting to make this for a while. I love cold soups in the summertime and cantaloupes can be found everywhere. I really enjoy watermelon gazpacho but had never tried cantaloupe gazpacho. I had seen numerous recipes for cantaloupe gazpacho and some sounded good whereas others sounded just so-so. Regardless, I was intrigued by the concept of cantaloupe gazpacho. As such, it was fairly high on the list of recipes to try. As it happened, when we were at the farmers market last weekend one of the vendors had some incredibly fresh cantaloupe. So, we bought a couple. One was designated for this soup. The second is because Baby Lady wants a cantaloupe sorbet but that is for another post. 😉
Back to this gazpacho…This is a wonderful cold soup. In fact, this is one of the best dishes we have made in a long time. Everything in this soup is in perfect balance and it’s perfect for the summer. There is a creamy sweetness from the cantaloupe, a slight tang and freshness from the lemon, saltiness, crunchiness and zestiness from the relish with a just little kiss of back end heat, savory crunchiness from the fried prosciutto and bright freshness from the mint. It’s absolutely amazing and is perfect for a lite lunch with a nice finger sandwich or even a side salad. Baby Lady & I were absolutely blown away at the flavors and balance of this soup and I hardly ever say that. This makes 6 servings 1-1/2 cups each. You need to make this quick while you can and ripe cantaloupes are readily available. You will regret it if you don’t. This really is that good and this is what we did.
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 1 cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and chopped (roughly 7 cups)
- 1 cup English cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
- 2 Tbsp shallots, diced
- 3 lemons, juiced (roughly 5 Tbsp)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
For the Relish
- 1 jalapeño (mild), diced
- 1/2 cup English cucumber, peeled, seeded, small dice
- 1/2 lemon, juiced (roughly 2-1/2 tsp)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the Garnish
- 2 oz prosciutto, diced and fried for garnish
- fresh mint, chiffonade, for garnish
Sorry there is no ingredient photo but this was one of those recipes that we created as we went along. 😮
Instruction
First, make the relish you are going to use as garnish. Start by adding the cucumber to a small mixing bowl,
followed by jalapeño
and shallots.
Now, add sea salt
and lemon juice.
Toss to incorporate.
Set aside for 30 minutes.
Add chopped prosciutto to a saute pan
Fry the prosciutto until crispy
Remove from pan and set aside until ready to serve.
Now, make the soup by placing the cantaloupe into a food processor or blender (I prefer my Vitamix).
Add the 1 cup chopped cucumber and 2 Tbsp shallots,
Salt
pepper
Lemon juice
and liquify.
Place in the fridge and chill for 30 minutes
To serve
Pour the soup into a bowl
add a spoon of the relish in the middle of the bowl
Sprinkle with chopped prosciutto
Finish with the mint
Serve & enjoy! We did and we will definitely make this again and again.
REMCooks 
Better than the pineapple gazpacho? I’m afraid I bombed the first time out with that recipe,. But it led to a tasty innovation, and I’m trying again tomorrow. Stay tuned on Tuesday 🙂
Hi, Sharon. Yes, this is really much better than the pineapple gazpacho, not that the pineapple gazpacho was bad because it wasn’t. This soup just hits all the right notes, is beautifully balanced and is so simple to prepare.
A lovely variation on the current theme! Shall certainly try it your way . . . I love cold soups, and not necessarily in summer 🙂 ! Perhaps due to the fact that my part of Oz rarely goes below the 0 C mark, even on midwinter mornings. Love the healthy aspects of this and DO love your plating!!
Thanks for the very nice compliment, Eha. We do cold soups primarily in the summer because it gets so brutally hot in DFW and all of the ripe veggies and fruit are available. Nevertheless, we do them periodically in the fall and spring, too. We hardly ever got to 0 C around here in the winter either but the fruits and veggies for the cold soups are just so fresh, ripe and abundant in the spring and summer that we never think about it during the winter.
Oh wow. This really does look fabulous! The cantaloupes are looking so good at the market. I would never think to make a cold soup with them. Great soup.
Thanks for the nice compliment. 🙂 You should give this a try. If you like ripe cantaloupe, I think you will love this soup. We were absolutely blown away with this soup.
How refreshing is this! Your gazpacho and garnish hit all of the right notes for me, sweet with a little heat and a bit of salt. This would make a perfect lunch, Richard. And, as always, you finished your post with a photo that’s a knockout. Very nice. 🙂
Thanks, John. I can’t rave about this soup enough. It turned out so well and is so easy to make. I hope you give this one a try.
This is indeed a beautiful flavourful soup for the summer. I made a similar soup with watermelon and it was hugely successful. http://kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/chilled-watermelon-gazpacho/ and a few years ago a melon kiwi and prosciutto version here: http://kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/iron-chef-inspiration-melon-and-prosciutto-rethunk/ I had forgotten about the frozen kiwi and melon balls, thanks for the inspiration to go back and review my old recipe. The prosciutto and feta are a lovely foil for the sweetness if the melon in both cases.
Hi, Eva. Thanks for the nice compliment. We have made watermelon gazpacho previously and really like it. I checked out your recipes, as well, and they look incredibly delicious. I love chilled soups in the summer. 🙂
Another great recipe! Never tried cantaloupe gazpacho before, but your recipe looks quite intriguing that I will have to try it!
Thanks, Laila, for the very nice compliment. If you like cantaloupe, you will love this soup. 🙂
Very nice! Summer has flown by without trying all the recipes I wanted.
Cantaloupe gelato is also very nice, btw 😉
Thanks, Stefan. I’ve made cantaloupe sorbet before but never ice cream or gelato. I guess I should try it. We’re still very toasty here so we still have more summer recipes on the way. On top of that IT”S CHILE SEASON!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
🙂 We will be in a pretty toasty climate soon, but I don’t expect to be able to do much cooking there for lack of ingredients and equipment.
I won’t be surprised if you were to post chile gelato 😉
Cantaloupe gelato/ice cream is very easy by the way, just make a custard and add pureed cantaloupe.
I don’t know about a chile gelato but a lime/chile sorbet has real potential. 😉 I also make a mean chocolate chile cake that is very tasty. 🙂
ciao! just found your blog and was so surprised to find this recipe…i just posted a melon soup recipe…great connection. just the best recipe and photos.
thebestdressup
Thanks for dropping by and your very nice compliment. Hope to see you around. 🙂
You know what I like about your cooking Richard? You use ingredients in ways I never would have thought of! You are expanding my repertoire of cooking knowledge, thank you!
Kathryn, you are very kind. We just like to cook and eat. 🙂 We hope you give this a try before the summer ends. I think you will love this soup. It’s very tasty, very refreshing and very simple to make.