Smoked Honey Watermelon

This is a definite conversation piece and tastes both sweet and smokey. I served it with other roast veg, couscous and salads.

You’ll need to adjust the cooking time for a bigger or smaller melon. I cooked this in the air fryer, which cooks things quicker, so you’ll probably need to allow more cooking time if you’re using an oven.

If you don’t want to make your own glaze, try using our Scotch Bonnet Chilli Honey instead.

Ingredients:

Medium watermelon

Fresh rosemary (optional)

50ml Oak Smoked Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil

Veggie Rub 03

For the glaze:

1/4 cup Honey or vegan alternative

1/4 cup caster sugar

1-2 tsp chipotle seasoning, paste or peppers

1tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp fresh crushed ginger

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tsp Smooth Dijon Mustard

1/4 tsp Mushroom Ketchup

Instructions:

Marinade:

1. Chop the end of the melon. Rest the melon on the flat end and carve off the skin. Then carve your melon into your best approximation of a ham shape -one long side will be flat.
2. Score a diamond pattern into the top and sides of the melon, by scoring diagonally one way and then the opposite way.
3. Drizzle a little oil over the melon and rub it all over with your hands. Sprinkle the Veggie Rub over the melon and massage that in. Be quite generous with the seasoning and make sure you get it in the cuts. I found I needed to use a spoon/fork handle to open the cuts up.
4. Place a rack on a plate/roasting tin. Place the melon on the rack and refrigerate uncovered for 10 hours or overnight.

Bake:

1. Put the rack and melon in the air fryer and cover the melon with tin foil.  Bake on the highest heat for 25 mins.
2. Turn the air fryer to 120 degrees C and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
3. Remove the tin foil. Drizzle with a little more smoked oil and bake at 120 degrees C for another 1 1/2 hours.

Glaze:

1. Fry the garlic and ginger in 1-2 tsp of the smoked oil on a medium temperature.
2. Add the other glaze ingredients and cook until combined.
3. Simmer until reduced by 1/3.
4. When the melon is baked, brush on 1/2 the glaze and then grill the melon on the highest heat for 1-2 minutes to caramelise the glaze. Keep checking your melon to make sure it doesn’t blacken.
5. Place the melon on a serving plate, drizzle with the remaining glaze and garnish with fresh rosemary.