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1
Preheat oven to 400u00b0F. Boil a pot of water.
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2
Cut the melon in half, scoop out the seeds, cut melon into slices and remove rind from melon. Put a generous slug or two of olive oil in a cast iron skillet, and swirl melon pieces around in the oil. Give another swirl in 10 minutes or so.
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3
While the melon roasts, prep tomatoes: use a paring knife to remove the core of the tomato (you will remove a cone shaped section, oriented around the north pole of the tomato), cut a shallow X in the bottom, and drop into boiling water for 30 seconds, then dunk in ice water. Cut tomatoes in half, and work skins off under running cold water, and use the water to rinse out all the seedsyou will have to pull the tomato apart a bit as you do this.
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4
When the cantaloupe pieces are starting to lose structural integrity, and you have a nice slurry of olive oil and cantaloupe essence in the skillet, but before anything chars, turn the cantaloupe out into a bowl, leaving at least some of the slurry in the pan, and add the tomatoes, adding more oil if they threaten to stick. Cook tomatoes just enough so that they do not taste raw.
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5
When melon and tomato are cool enough to work with, combine with basil and some ice in a blender. Make sure you get all the slurry in there. You remembered to rinse the basil. Add some lemon, reblend, and check seasoning. Allow soup to chill, 45 minutes.
