melon cucumber pesto skewers
Who wants to cook on a hot summer day? Well, me, but not everyone wants to sweat buckets while dishing out a festive appetizer. These skewers are for you.
I needed a no-cook appetizer for the upcoming 4th of July bonanza; something easy to chill, fun to assemble, and obviously bomb tasting. Summer melons are a real treat and one in which I don’t typically partake enough. Except watermelon. I do like me some watermelon. Like in a spritz or margarita.
While developing these adorable little skewers I discovered the beauty that is Tuscan melon. Trader Joe’s sells these cantaloupe cousins yearly but I never so much as sniffed one in the past. They’re a hybrid variety melon with an extra sweet, juicy profile. Using the melon baller in one was fun. Melon juice lasered right into my eyeball more than once. Worth it.
Skewers are a simple and aesthetically pleasing way to feed a crowd. Homemade pesto vinaigrette mingles with mini mozzarella balls and tendrils of sliced cucumber. You can get the whole fam involved in threading skewers. See, bonding time before meal time.
A Ballin’ Melon
The skewers involve a bit of prep and some specialty equipment. You can get away with making them sans the recommended tools, but the process will be a bit longer if you do. Just a heads up.
First, I use my food processor to whiz up the pesto vinaigrette. Fresh herbs, parmesan, olive oil, the usual suspects. Blend until nice and smooth, and use a bit to marinate some drained mozzarella balls.
Next, take your melon baller to scoop out nice little rounds of melon. If you don’t own a melon baller, they’re cheap enough to purchase, or you can slice up the melon into cubes. Still delish. Any leftover melon proves a great random snack, maybe even while you’re preparing this snack. Score.
Finally, the cucumber. I recommend hot house or English cucumbers since they’re not quite as watery as the standard cuke. They’re quite a bit longer, too, so cut them in half before you slide them across the mandolin. I really urge you to use a mandolin for this, since slicing slivers with a knife is extremely difficult if you’re eyeing that nice little swizzle pattern I used. If mandolins scare you shitless, I understand. You can also chop the cucumbers into chunks.
Nothing Skewed About These Skewers
Now the fun part: putting the skewers together!
The order of ingredients is really up to you. You can do every skewer the same, or mix it up and pattern each differently. The important part is ensuring you serve them with lots of pesto on the side for drizzling and dunking.
I wrapped each mozzarella ball in a big basil leaf and used this arrangement: mozzarella, melon, cucumber, mozzarella, melon, cucumber, mozzarella. I ended with 8 large skewers. You can definitely cut some skewers down to make mini versions and do one of each ingredient for a precious miniature appetizer.
You can definitely prep these a day ahead, but I wouldn’t do more than that. The cucumber is liable to lose its structure after around 24 hours. Individual melon balls and mozzarella last around 5 days, and the pesto keeps up to a week. Feel welcome to freeze the pesto as well for up to a month.
Any variety of melon works here, too. Try honeydew or watermelon or a big fat mixture of every damn melon you can find. All the melon.
What’s your favorite melon variety? I ate cantaloupe like I was on fire as a kid, but now I’d probably say watermelon!
Tried this recipe out? Leave a comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Check out these fun summer appetizers:
Oven Fried Italian Parmesan Cauliflower Nuggets
Everything Caesar Baked Crackers
melon cucumber pesto skewers
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh basil, plus more for the skewers
- 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 2 tbsp fresh chives
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cantaloupes or Tuscan melons
- 1 hot house or English cucumber
- 1 container mozzarella balls (ciliegene)
- 8-10 wooden skewers
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine the basil, dill, chives, garlic, parmesan, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper. With the food processor running, slowly stream in the olive oil until emulsified.
- Drain the mozzarella balls and pour into a bowl. Toss with a few spoonfuls of the pesto. Let sit while you prepare the rest of the skewer ingredients.
- Halve each melon and scoop out the stringy flesh and seeds. Use a melon baller to twist neat little spheres of melon. Set aside in a bowl. You may end up with more than you need for the skewers; miscellaneous snacking, ahoy!
- Halve the cucumber and trim off the ends. Use a mandolin to produce thin strips.
- Place a mozzarella ball in a big basil leaf and thread onto the skewer. Follow with a melon ball, a cucumber strip, another mozzarella ball, melon, cucumber, and finish with a mozzarella ball. Repeat this pattern with remaining ingredients, or customize to your own liking! Serve with remaining pesto alongside.
