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Spicy Peach and Nectarine Salsa (for grilled chicken, fish or shrimp)

Between the World Cup, my son’s birthday, and all the crazy- end-of-school-year STUFF, I have not been blogging with my usual attention. And I have missed you! But in the last few days of entertaining and spectating, this peach and nectarine salsa (done quickly at half-time) has been sparking up the fantastic grilled chicken my dad has been charring to perfection.

A combination of over-ripe and not-quite ripe peaches and nectarines make for a terrific salsa

It is the result of buying a manager’s special of rejected peaches and nectarines on the cheap….You can substitute mango..in fact my mom thought it was mango! The important thing is the balance and excitement of sweet, citric, spicy and salty all at one go. Nancy, this one is for you…

This is done in five minutes!

Peach/Nectarine Spicy Salsa (for grilled chicken or shrimp)

1 Cup peeled and chopped peaches and nectarines

1 tsp red onion, chopped fine

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp balsamic vinegar

1 pinch hot red pepper flakes

1 pinch salt

Mix together in a bowl and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Serve with grilled chicken, shrimp or sturdy white fish.

Tags: cooking, food, grilled chicken, grilled fish, nectarines, peaches, salsa, summer fruits

Comments 6 Comments
Categories BBQ, Entertaining, Food, Grilling, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Can These Strawberries Be Saved? Yes!

10 May

‘Tis the season of strawberry temptation. You know, such a good price on 4 fragrant ruby lbs. of strawberries that you don’t even think about the organic vs. conventional argument, or about who is going to eat them all. You put that clam shell right into the shopping cart and carry on.

And then a few days later, you re-encounter said clam shell, about two pounds lighter in strawberries. But the ones that are left are looking sad, faded, withered, mushy, maybe even a little gray and mossy in spots. A bit like Lola the Showgirl thirty years on at the Copa.

They seemed like a bargain at the time, but now they threaten to become food waste, a drain on your wallet, a stink in your trash can, those starving children in Ethiopia that your mom used to tell you about, yakkity, yakkity, just wrong.

Relax. There is a way to save them, make them delicious and desirable once again, make yourself feel better about your folly.

Roasting. Yes, roasting. Toss those aging beauties (do cut out those grey mossy bits, of course, and all the other dubious bits) in sugar and balsamic vinegar (and rosemary if you are so inclined), roast for an hour, and you will end up with some deliciously jammy stuff that you can use on toast, stir into plain yogurt, use to top ice cream or even experiment with to make some sort of chutney or relish for meats.

As the strawberry season is upon us, I know I won’t be the only one to make ridiculous seasonal purchases. Here, at least, is one solution to the retail hangover.

Roasted Strawberries (adapted from The Oregonian)

1 lb strawberries, hulled and cut into 1” pieces if the whole fruits are bigger than that

scant ¼ Cup sugar

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a bowl, toss the berries, sugar and vinegar. Spread berries on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for about an hour or until soft and dark. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and cool before serving. Will keep a couple of days in the fridge.

Tags: cooking, food, overripe fruit solutions, recipes, roasted strawberries, strawberries, summer fruits

Comments 10 Comments
Categories Food, gardening, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

¡Comida Hispana! Recipes to unleash your inner Latino

Mango Mojitos With Ancho Chili Salt

It was another summer Friday in the neighborhood and that called for another festive cocktail. Riding high on the success of last session’s passionfruit mojitos, I decided to make mango mojitos. The drink itself followed much the same construction, but the mango was decidedly sweeter than the passionfruit, so I decided that it needed a […]
Passionfruit Mojitos by the Pitcher or Glass

Summer evenings in the neighborhood can be wonderful. Occasionally on a Friday some of us neighbors bring out folding chairs and sit together in one front yard for a bit of happy hour while the kids go mental on someone else’s lawn. It’s pretty much BYO, but we do mix up a pitcher of experimental […]
KID IN THE KITCHEN: Tembleque (Tropical Coconut Pudding)

We spent the better part of last summer in Puerto Rico, and among the tasty things that my little guy fell in love with was tembleque, a jiggly (temblar means to tremble) dessert that falls somewhere between pudding and flan. I promised him we’d make it back in New York, and this weekend, for a […]
Sangría Tropical (and rainforest paradise pictures)

When the heat gets tropical, so should the drinks. On a recent trip to the mountains of Puerto Rico, I was inspired by a wonderfully cooling and exotic sangría I had up around and about El Yumque (Caribbean National Forest, the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. Forest Service system) at Noelia’s, recommended to us […]
Salmorejo de jueyes (Land Crab Stew)

There are a number of land crab species skittering about Caribbean coastlines. Some are edible and the one we eat most here in Puerto Rico (although I am told they mostly are imported from Venezuela these days) is Cardisoma guanhumi which we call juey and — if you are English-speaking — you might call the […]