invincible summer: apple pear salsa
Sundays when I do not work always mean a slow cruise through Whole Foods after church or yoga (or both). This past Sunday, following form, I stopped by the crushed ice tables of guacamole and salsa for a little sampling even though I know perfectly well that Whole Foods make very good guacamole and salsa. But this time their seasonal offering caught my eye: apple pear salsa. Hmmm. Kind of white. Kind of fruity. Read the ingredients: apples, pears, red onion, jalapeño, ginger, cilantro, lime juice and salt. All right, that could be good. Try it. Yep, delicious. Refreshing. Light. Sweet, tart and salty. I'm in. I can make that. And so I did.
Sunday night we were the lucky guests of Paula and Danny for cocktails and football. Always say yes when they invite you over. Great company and always good food and drink. I asked if I could bring a little something to share. You have to love Paula's answer, "as long as it goes with cocktails". Since I had everything needed for the salsa except pears, I bought four big fat just ripe ones with cocktail hour in mind.
Being me, I just grab everything from the refrigerator, line it up for a photo and start chopping. You honestly do not need a recipe but that is the whole point of a cooking blog. Here's a little tip for you: the big apples and pears when peeled and chopped in small dice make a lot of fruit. I used two pears and two apples and that was more than five cups of fruit. I kept getting out bigger bowls. Not a problem because I took half on Sunday and we enjoyed the second half with my BFF, Susan who we were so happy to have with us Monday night as she makes the rounds during a week visit to the states. Two very festive days in a row that happened to be a Sunday and a Monday.
Mix it up a bit and take this to your Super Bowl party or just make a batch just for snacking. So many good multigrain, sweet potato, blue corn and etc. chip options now everywhere. The Late July chips were on sale at Whole Foods and they rock. Trader Joe's sweet potato tortilla chips are yummy too. I bet you could dice an avocado into the salsa too. Put it on a bed of lettuce and toss with a bit of light sour cream and add a protein for a good meal (grilled shrimp would be fabulous, but rotisserie chicken or crispy tofu would be great too). Add brown rice and beans to all of that and make super hearty bowls. Do you see where I'm going here? Layer it up. It's freezing. Literally freezing. Eat something bright and refreshing and find your invincible summer.
This recipe is half of what I made. Family size. Party size would just be doubled. The key to this salsa for me was to juice one fresh lime for each big piece of fruit.
Apple Pear Salsa
one large apple, peeled and cut in small dice (I like sweet-tart apples: pink lady, tango, honey crisp)
one large pear, peeled and cut in small dice (look at my nice pears here, nice and plump)
half of medium red onion
one jalapeño pepper, cored and diced fine (avoid the seeds, that is where all the heat lives)
one tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
handful of cilantro, cleaned, stemmed and leaves chopped fine
two limes, juiced
1/2 tsp kosher salt (to taste)
Toss all ingredients together and taste for salt. The lime juice will macerate the apple and pear a bit so it will get juicier as it sits. Refrigerate until serving.
Sunday night we were the lucky guests of Paula and Danny for cocktails and football. Always say yes when they invite you over. Great company and always good food and drink. I asked if I could bring a little something to share. You have to love Paula's answer, "as long as it goes with cocktails". Since I had everything needed for the salsa except pears, I bought four big fat just ripe ones with cocktail hour in mind.
Being me, I just grab everything from the refrigerator, line it up for a photo and start chopping. You honestly do not need a recipe but that is the whole point of a cooking blog. Here's a little tip for you: the big apples and pears when peeled and chopped in small dice make a lot of fruit. I used two pears and two apples and that was more than five cups of fruit. I kept getting out bigger bowls. Not a problem because I took half on Sunday and we enjoyed the second half with my BFF, Susan who we were so happy to have with us Monday night as she makes the rounds during a week visit to the states. Two very festive days in a row that happened to be a Sunday and a Monday.
Mix it up a bit and take this to your Super Bowl party or just make a batch just for snacking. So many good multigrain, sweet potato, blue corn and etc. chip options now everywhere. The Late July chips were on sale at Whole Foods and they rock. Trader Joe's sweet potato tortilla chips are yummy too. I bet you could dice an avocado into the salsa too. Put it on a bed of lettuce and toss with a bit of light sour cream and add a protein for a good meal (grilled shrimp would be fabulous, but rotisserie chicken or crispy tofu would be great too). Add brown rice and beans to all of that and make super hearty bowls. Do you see where I'm going here? Layer it up. It's freezing. Literally freezing. Eat something bright and refreshing and find your invincible summer.
This recipe is half of what I made. Family size. Party size would just be doubled. The key to this salsa for me was to juice one fresh lime for each big piece of fruit.
Apple Pear Salsa
one large apple, peeled and cut in small dice (I like sweet-tart apples: pink lady, tango, honey crisp)
one large pear, peeled and cut in small dice (look at my nice pears here, nice and plump)
half of medium red onion
one jalapeño pepper, cored and diced fine (avoid the seeds, that is where all the heat lives)
one tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
handful of cilantro, cleaned, stemmed and leaves chopped fine
two limes, juiced
1/2 tsp kosher salt (to taste)
Toss all ingredients together and taste for salt. The lime juice will macerate the apple and pear a bit so it will get juicier as it sits. Refrigerate until serving.
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| ingredients |
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| trick for small dice: section the apple and then cut into two horizontal planes. Dice them together. |
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| tossing the salsa |
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| serving the salsa |
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