My trip to Salento this summer was a great source of inspiration for my culinary flair! I brought back a good load of local products that I immediately loved from the first taste and added many recipes to my gastronomic luggage that I plan to experiment with soon! In the meantime, among barattiere, cumarazzi and Puglian meloncelle, I filled up! Too fresh and refreshing not to eat! They are wonderful in summer salads, as a fresh starter or even eaten as a snack in their pure form. Today, however, I reveal my recent culinary invention, using an ancient vegetable with a unique taste and shape: the meloncella. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a well-made cross between a melon and a cucumber. Low in sugars but rich in water, vitamins and minerals, it adapts very well to low-calorie and low-glycemic diets. Here is an unusual way to enjoy it added to other Mediterranean ingredients, until forming a marvelous sauce to accompany your dishes, especially red and white meats! Its versatility will surprise you! If I’ve aroused your curiosity, continue reading and prepare it with me! You won’t regret it!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: No-cook
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients:
- 1 Salento meloncella (meloncella) or cucumber
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 3/4 oz capers (packed in salt)
- 3 anchovies in oil
- A few leaves mentuccia (mint)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 lemon zest (untreated)
- to taste garlic powder
- 1 1/3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
Preparation:
Peel the meloncella with a vegetable peeler or a mandoline, removing any internal seeds (fig. 1).
Slice it first into rounds and then dice into small cubes (fig. 2).
Transfer the brunoise into a food processor (fig. 3).
Add the hard-boiled eggs, sliced, and the anchovies that have been desalinated under running water and patted dry with paper towel (fig. 4).
Also add the capers, which have also been rinsed to remove excess salt and patted dry (fig. 5).
Season with a few mint leaves and drizzle with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (fig. 6).
Add the grated zest of one untreated lemon (fig. 7).
Drizzle with a generous swirl of extra virgin olive oil (fig. 9).
Add a pinch of garlic powder, then adjust the salt only if needed, and add pepper to taste (fig. 10).
Pulse in the food processor several times until you obtain a homogeneous texture, but not necessarily completely smooth. The result should be creamy but rather rustic (fig. 11).
Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes covered with plastic wrap. At serving time, drizzle with another touch of oil and garnish with mint leaves as desired.
You can accompany meat skewers, chicken, vegetarian dishes and whatever your imagination suggests.
I created it to accompany my vegetarian eggplant croquettes with feta and sun-dried tomatoes.
An absolute delight!
And voila… your Salento meloncella sauce with capers and hard-boiled eggs is ready to be enjoyed!
Enjoy your meal from FeFè’s kitchen!
