Instructions: To make the sauce put the mayonnaise cream pimentos tomato puree salt and pepper into a blender and blend until smooth.

Toss the diced ham grapes and walnut halves in the pimento sauce.

Cut the melon in half discard the seeds and scoop out the flesh using a vegetable baller.

Or cut the flesh away from the rind and cut it into strips.

Cover a serving dish with lettuce leaves arrange the ham salad in the centre and surround it with a ring of melon balls or strips Diced cooked chicken is equally nice served this way and blends very well with the pimento sauce.

To make a melon bowl for a special presentation you can use the melon shell as a container it looks specially attractive filled with fruit salad or frosty fruit sorbet decorated with sprigs of mint.

Cut a thin slice from one side and scoop out the flesh discarding the seeds. Trim the flesh away from the melon skin to leave thin walls a grapefruit knife with a curved blade is a help. Cut zig zag points around the top of the shell. Pile in the salad to make a mound.

Serves 4

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