Bruschetta w Red Pepper Chutney & Sundried Tomatoes, Pickled Melon, Smoked Salmon, Parma Ham and Basil & Garlic Pesto Tomato Starter. Served with a shot of Melon Pickling Juice....a mouthful by name & nature.

This is a starter that I made in the last production kitchen class of the year before we break for the summer. Being the last class there was a push to use up as much ingredients as possible so each section had a lot going on the plates.

From left to right..Bruschetta bread topped with diced tomatoes and fresh made basil and garlic pesto & topped of with parma ham. In the middle is the pickled melon topped with smoked salmon. On the right is a slice of bruschetta bread dipped in clarified butter w red pepper chutney& sun dried tomatoes and a drizzle of basil pesto/olive oil mix.

The starters turned out great and nearly all the plates coming back were clean, but this was the cherry on the cake for me.Its the juice left over from pickling the diced melon mixed with the juice of half a water melon.

The brine used to pickle the melon is a mix of rice wine vinegar, olive oil, caster sugar, honey, salt & pepper which is heated to allow sugar dissolve. I left the diced melon in the brine covered in the fridge for a couple hours. Ideally I would  have left it overnight to allow the melon absorb more flavor or vacuum packed it in bags with the brine to both brighten colors and speed things up.
Initially I had been following a recipe but wasn't happy with the ratio of ingredients so adjusted it to my own taste...lots more vinegar, bit more sugar and some more salt. There's not a huge amount of olive oil in the recipe. After the melon is removed from the brine I added half a water melon and buzzed it seeds n all then strained off. This was absolutely fantastic if I may say so, the melon juice works really well with the vinegar, honey, sugar and salt. 
Something was telling me that this and vodka would get along just fine in a tall glass with crushed ice. Stay tuned.