Melon and Prosciutto "As Soup"

The other day, Dan was cleaning out the hall closet and he came across my At Home With Micheal Chiarello cookbook. I totally forgot about having the book and spent the next two nights reading it in bed. There are some great recipes in this book and the first one I decided to try was this soup. One of my favorite things to eat in the summer is melon and prosciutto and this recipe seemed like a winner. It turned out very nice, if not a little sweet. The cantaloupe I used was super sweet and I could have cut some of the honey, but oh well, it still tasted great! I think I will try using basil in place of the mint for the next go around.

Melon and Prosciutto "As Soup"

2 cantaloupes, halved, seeded, peeled and cubed

Finely ground sea salt

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

12 mint leaves

2 tbsp. dark rum

1/3 cup mascarpone cheese

2 tbsp. Prosciutto Bits

Freshly ground black pepper

Place 8 soup bowls in freezer. Working in batches, combine cantaloupe, 1 tsp salt, honey, lemon juice, 10 mint leaves and rum in a blender and process until very smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours.

Finely julienne the remaining 2 mint leaves. Ladle soup into chilled bowls. Garnish center of bowl with a dollop of mascarpone. Sprinkle mascarpone with Prosciutto, mint leaves and a grind of black pepper.