Spicy melon tomato skewers are the starter for my fancy 3-course menu on a budget. You can find the main article here. See also the main course and the dessert.
Delhaize
This article has been published in a collaboration with Delhaize. They sponsored the bigger part of the used ingredients. They set-up a challenge every month, outlining a few guidelines. For the June 2016 challenge, the guidelines are “Summer”. Furthermore, they ask to mainly use products of their home brand and set a budget. In this case, I had a maximum of EUR 25,–. Besides those guidelines Delhaize only asked to publish what I did with the budget.
Spicy Melon Tomato Skewers
The spicy melon tomato skewers fit the challenge description for a Summer-like dish. The combination of the sweetness of the melon and the light acidity of the cocktail tomatoes, with the high-quality olive oil and the spicy Mediterranean seasoning, are a delight.
If you have a grill pan at hand I recommend using it for this recipe. It gives the spicy melon tomato skewers a great visual BBQ effect. Make sure to use enough heat when you sear them. This gives the melon a chance to slightly caramelise and the cocktail tomatoes a chance to really heat-up.
Fancy 3-course Menu on a Budget
When you work on a menu, you have to have several things in your mind. Of course, you need to carefully plan every dish itself, but also find a way to link them in one way or another. In my menu all the dishes have a fruit incorporated and all dishes have an item that makes the individual plate light in taste.
I didn’t stop here, though. As my intention of this menu was to make it for two people who are on a date night, it also had to be fancy and simple to cook. You don’t want to have your date waiting for ages for the food, while you stress yourself in the kitchen.
That’s why you can prepare the spicy melon tomato skewers well in advance and it only takes a few moments to sear them.
Spicy melon tomato skewers
- 1/2 charentais melon (a type of cantaloupe melon)
- 125 cocktail tomatoes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- chilli flakes
- basil
- 6 small skewers
- Cut the 1/2 melon in have (so you have quarters), remove the outer shell and the core.
- Cut the melon in junks, more or less the size of the cocktail tomatoes.
- Now put the melon and the tomatoes (alternate) on the skewers.
- Mix the oil and the seasoning in a small bowl. Put the skewers in a small plastic bag and add the marinade. Put it in the fridge for at least 30-60 minutes.
- Heat up a frying pan on medium-high heat. Fry the skwers until they get burn marks. They don't have to be steaming hot. They should be only warm in the inside.
- Serve!