Melonhash

Yes indeed, this is supposed to be one word. Melonhash. You won’t be surprised to learn that this is from the infamous The World At Your Table (from the Essex Meat Packers of Hamilton, Ontario, cicra 1968). There is no picture of it, which perhaps is for the best. Just try to imagine the following, if you dare:

Melonhash1 15 oz. can Essex Corned Beef hash
1/2 10 oz. can Mandarin oranges
1/4 cup coarsely chopped salted almonds
1 cup cantloup [sic] cubes
Lettuce
2 cantaloups [sic again - also, sick again]
1/2 cup mayonnaise (approxinately)
1/2 cup blueberriesGently mix together Corned Beef Hash, oranges, almonds and cantaloup cubes. Sprinkle generously with instant minced onion. Chill mixture while preparing servings. Cut the cantaloup in half and remove seeds and peel. Cut halves into four slices each. Place cantaloup slices on a lettuce leaf to form flower petals. Place sweet pickles between each slice.Add mayonaise to hash mixture and spoon into center of lettuce leaf. Garnish with blueberries and maraschino cherries.

Did you notice the ingredients that got sneaked into this recipe, that were not listed at the top? The instant minced onion, the pickles, the cherries. This is – some recipe, all right. Plus also it looks like a flower, supposedly. This is the salad recipe that’s got it all: the food-sculpture, the bizarre mix of ingredients, the canned stuff, and to top it off – maraschino cherries, as if it was a sundae from another planet (perhaps one of the ice cream planets).

Oh, and also the pseudo-groovy one-word title. It sounds like the name of a psychedelic band, doesn’t it? And if they were high enough they would maybe even eat this.

Or maybe not.

Image from Wikimedia Commons.