Melon Soup is Souper Easy

by Caitlin Collins

With the arrival of summer, delicious and juicy sharlyn melons are coming into season. While melon and prosciutto is an Italian staple we all know and love, Chef Nathan Lockwood has crafted a unique summer dish with the use of this summer melon: chilled soup with lobster and basil. This soup is not only perfect and delicious, but also incredibly simple to make.

Sharlyn melons are favored over cantaloupe or honeydew because of their less-sweet flavor profile and more abundant liquid content. Nathan also selects California 100% Organic Taggiasca Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Nepitella mint from his garden, Comet's Tail Peppercorns, Reisling Passito, and kosher salt for preparation. 

First, Nathan sets a strainer over a bowl. He cuts a Sharlyn melon in half, and opens the two pieces over the top of the strainer, because sometimes the melons release liquid when opened. The seedy mass in the middle is scooped out with a spoon and also added to the strainer, and with the back of a ladle, he pushes the liquid out against the side of the strainer. The juice in the bowl is saved, the seeds in the strainer discarded. 

Nathan takes a melon baller to the halves of melon. At Altura we like to use three different sizes of melon ballers to create an interesting plating, and starting with the largest melon baller, Nathan goes around each half once. Then the balled discs are sliced off to start again with the next smallest size melon baller. 

Nathan only carves enough melon balls to garnish the soup, and the rest is saved for the food processor.

The peels from the discs of melon are removed and discarded. The skeleton melon is dropped into a food processor, and the rest of the melon halves' flesh is scooped into the processor as well. 

Nathan adds the juice initially extracted from the seedy pulp at the beginning. 

Olive oil, Nepitella mint, and Riesling Passito is added to the balled melon bowls, but Nathan dresses it lightly, like a salad: do not drench the melon.

Everything rests for 15 minutes, then extra liquid is drained off of the melon balls into the food processor. 

Nathan adds a little more olive oil, a dash of salt, and the melon is pureed until combined. It is poured through the strainer again and Nathan pushes the pulp against one side to extract the juice. He tastes the soup, seasons with more salt or oil as needed ("until it doesn't suck," which it never did), and he briefly uses an immersion blender to make sure everything is fully incorporated. 

It is now important to make sure that the soup is placed in the fridge immediately.

Nathan takes lobster, which has been cooked and shucked, and cuts medallions out of the lobster tail and slices the claw into perfect bite-sized pieces.

Everything that he will need to plate the soup is placed in front of him. Nathan arranges differently sized melon balls in the bowl. 

These are joined by a couple small circles of gelee, followed by a light arrangement of micro basil and nepitella mint. 

 He grinds Comet's Tale peppercorns under his knife and lightly sprinkles them over the top, finally garnishing the whole plate with olive oil.

 For a dramatic presentation, the soup is placed in a pitcher and poured to serve, lightly covering the bottom of the bowl but not drowning the garnishes.

The nepitella and basil lightly float to the top while the balls of melon peek out like islands. You've got to try it!