Canteloupe Salad with Lime, Mint, & Ginger

Before I say anything about this recipe, I should say that I have made it in the past (back when I was in law school actually) and really enjoyed it.  But the melon I picked up at the farmers' market this time was strangely flavorless.  It was insanely juicy, but sadly lacking in flavor - almost like the juice of the melon watered down the flavor.  It was really weird.  Just judging from how much juice came out while Alex was chopping the melon I was worried that the melon would be overly ripe and too sweet.  It might have been a touch over-ripe, but it wasn't sweet at all.  And this salad needs some sweetness from the melon (in addition to the sugar and honey) to make it all come together.  Otherwise it doesn't quite come together.  You need the intensely sweet flavor of good ripe cantaloupe to contrast against the warmth of the ginger, the slight sour/floral flavor of the lime juice and zest and the freshness of the mint.  With all of that said, when you have a nice ripe melon this is a great dish.  You could mix it up with a combination of watermelon and cantaloupe (or stick to the recipe and just use cantaloupe) and serve alongside your typical breakfast spread for a lovely brunch.

Recipe after the jump!

Grilled Lime-Curry-Rubbed Hanger Steak with Fresh Melon-Cucumber Chutney

Since we just had Korean Bulgogi Tacos (Alex had them for dinner on Saturday and I had the leftovers today for lunch), it seemed a little weird to make steak tacos, which is what I usually do with hanger steak.  My other initial thought was to make a traditional French hanger steak with a shallot sauce (aka onglet aux echalottes).  But I decided that sounded boring.  Then I saw this recipe from Gourmet, which sounded really interesting and not at all boring.  So we went for this one.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the individual components when I first tasted them.  The lime-curry rub is quite intense.  Delicious, but I wasn't sure that I could eat an entire steak rubbed in it.  And the chutney was good, but on its own it felt like it was missing something.  I thought about adding more jalapeno and more spices, but I wanted to wait and see how the steak tasted before doing so.  I'm glad I did wait because when you put them together the sweetness and freshness of the chutney really complements the intense curry and lime flavor of the hanger steak.  And the rice soaks up the juices from the steak, combined with the juices of the chutney.  It's a really fresh, flavorful and savory dish.  I actually started thinking about what other types of dishes the chutney would work with.  And the success of this dish made me even more interested in a recipe for Jamaican Jerk Salmon and Mango Pineapple Salsa that I recently saw in the April issue of SELF.  I think both recipes share a similar combination of a sweet fruit salsa/chutney with an intensely flavorful protein.  Hopefully that recipe turns out as well as this one did.

Recipe after the jump!