FIRST, the winner of Rhys and Clare's latest book WILD IRISH ROSE is...Libby Dodd! Congrats, Libby! Please email Rhys at: authorrhysbowen@gmail.com and she'll send your book!
JENN: Being in Arizona, we are currently in our glory days, that paradisiacal stretch of time after the chill of winter and before the heat of summer. For me, this means the lemon and lime tree are starting to bloom and I've just harvested my peppers.
Aren't they pretty? Habanero and serrano. Which means it's time for the Hub to make his fabulous salsa!!! I don't usually share recipes (because I don't cook anymore) but as Hub was making this one the other day, I thought this is the blast of springtime everyone needs. So here's Hub's recipe for garden salsa. Enjoy!
Hub's Salsa
2 finely chopped habanero peppers (hot)**
2 finely chopped serrano chili peppers
2 finely chopped (seeded) jalapeno pepper s
4 tomatoes quartered and chopped in a food processor
4 finely diced (seeded) tomatoes
2 Tbspn chopped cilantro
2 Tbspn chopped green onion
2 cloves garlic minced
Mix ingredients in a large bowl, then strain.
Then add:
Juice of 3 limes, hand squeezed into salsa
1 tspn salt
2 Tbspn fine tequila (Cabo Wabo)**
**For a more kid friendly version, we leave out the habaneros and the tequila.
When asked how he thought of the tequila, which in my opinion makes it, Hub said, "I'd always thought that adding a bit of a good reposado tequila might mingle nicely with the lime and the salt in the salsa, like in a good margarita, so one day I figured what the heck and added a Tbspn of Cabo Wabo to one batch, loaded it up on a tortilla chip and after that first taste, I knew I had created the perfect salsa."
All right, Red and Readers, what is the taste of spring for you?
Okay, now I’m looking forward to having chips and salsa . . . thanks for the recipe.
ReplyDeleteThe taste of spring for us is potato salad and anything with berries . . . .
I love potato salad, but only my mom's and my neighbor Boris's. I don't know what they do but it's divine.
DeleteMy recipe is from my mom . . .
DeleteThanks for the recipe! Love salsa!
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I can eat it all the time any time.
DeleteJENN: You are making me cry with your salsa recipe.
ReplyDeleteAlas, my severe nightshade allergy (tomatoes, bell and chili peppers) means I have not eaten salsa since 2018!
Taste of spring include eating local fiddleheads, and Ontario asparagus.
OOPS, I should have also added new maple syrup and pancakes (at Quebec sugar shacks) in my list above. Sadly the sugar shacks have been closed due to the pandemic last winter.
DeleteBut it looks like the 2022 sugar shack season is a go this year!
Oh, I'm so sorry, Grace, that is a bugger of an allergy. I had no idea so many veggies fell into that category.
DeleteJENN: Yeah, this nightshade allergy truly sucks! I could eat green chili cheeseburgers in Santa Fe in 2011, salsa and so much more.
DeleteIf I have a swollen face and body rash when I see you at LCC ABQ in April, it's because I decided to hell with the allergies, and indulged.
That would be a taste of fall for us in New England, since things like habaneros don't ripen until then. They ARE super hot but their flavor is divine. I grow one plant in a big pot every year, because often they are still ripening when we get our first frost, so I bring the pot indoors.
ReplyDeleteNext time I make salsa, I will add tequila!
Like Grace, the first taste of spring is in early May when the asparagus in my bed starts popping up. They can grow an inch an hour! So fresh they barely need cooking (I often eat one raw as I'm picking). And in June, the first local strawberries. Mmmm.
Highly recommend the tequila!
DeleteThere really isn't local produce here until mid-June. Because Passover is usually in April, I think of that holiday when I think of Spring, so lots of eggs. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteJenn, my brother used to grow all different types of hot peppers including serrano and habenero. Just when we were beginning to enjoy some "heat" in our food, I used 1 serrano in the chili. I think we almost died from our first bite. Now, I'm not too sure whether we could tolerate the heat your hubby puts into his salsa, but it sounds like an adventure!
Eggs! Yum. Deviled eggs in particular. Yum.
DeleteHot cross buns during Lent.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Margaret, but I'm reluctant to buy them because I end up eating the entire 8 pack by myself!
DeleteNow you're speaking my language. I'm a carboholic, for sure.
DeleteJenn, the photos are stunning and the hub sounds like a real chef! xoxo
ReplyDeleteHe's really come a long way since the pandemic hit and he took over the kitchen.
DeleteJenn, I am still marveling over the fact that your husband took over your kitchen during the pandemic.
DeleteIrwin just shows up for meals, LOL. I'm trying to picture him in there chopping veggies but... NO, I can't see it.
Thanks for the taste of spring, which is still a ways away here on the prairies...Like Grace and Edith, local asparagus means spring has arrived.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid in Kent, CT, we lived on a river that would overflow and then freeze. I remember one year, it hit early and our lower garden froze. My brother and I were delighted to be skating over the frozen asparagus. Now I love it, but as a kid. Nope.
DeleteBrilliant to add tequila! Why hasn't it occurred to anyone before Hub did it?
ReplyDeleteSpring here means fresh local asparagus (and in my garden if the plants I put in last year do well), strawberries, and garlic scapes. Which reminds me, I need to pull the straw back off the garlic bed.
KAREN: Strawberries and garlic scapes are early summer foods (late June) that I look forward to seeing in the FM in Ottawa.
DeleteLate spring here, Grace. Closer to May than March!
DeleteYes to scapes!
DeleteOttawa is in USDA zone 4. Our last frost free day is in May.
DeleteStrawberries arrive in April here. It is one of my favorite months just for that.
DeleteNo fresh veggies in northern Ohio this time of year, but Easter dinner always makes me think of spring--redskin potato salad, strawberries, and yes, asparagus roasted with garlic.
ReplyDeleteI love Hubs' description of adding tequila to the salsa. His version would make an inferno of my mouth--I'll stick with our wimpy version :-)
If you take out his spicy peppers, it is much more reasonable, but he is a desert boy and loves the heat.
DeleteThat looks delicious but I think it would kill my stomach!
ReplyDeleteEven though they come closer to summer, fresh strawberries are the taste and smell of spring for me.
DebRo
Love strawberries -- and peaches come in June here, which is my absolute favorite fruit.
DeleteThe photographs! Are gorgeous! This is absolutely transporting. Someday, will you show us the whole garden? And that recipe is absolutely fantastic. Wow. I have never made salsa, I never even thought about it! But I bet fresh salsa is astonishing . I’m coming over.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely. It's a raised bed that we have to keep covered from the pests, so it's not very attractive but it is productive!
DeleteAnd our gardens are still covered with snow.
ReplyDeletePlus a fresh layer from last night!
DeleteWe got another 5cm /2in of snow last night, too.
DeleteUgh.
DeleteBut I know the crocuses are under there!
DeleteOh Jenn, that salsa recipe sounds like perfection!! I can hardly wait to try it. I predict my husband will think he has died and gone to heaven. (A humorous note: I have a sister-in-law whose signature dish is a good salsa that she brings to all family gatherings. So no matter how good this proves to be, I know I can never share it with his family. Most of them would find it too hot anyway.)
ReplyDeleteLike many others here, spring is still a ways away for us in central Ohio. Strawberries are the food that pops into my mind when I think of spring, though.
Strawberries are tough to grow out here, but I do make a strawberry buttercream that is to die for, FYI!
DeleteMy taste of spring is the first harvest of rhubarb! Preferably enough to make PIE.
ReplyDeleteStrawberry rhubarb is one of my faves!!!
DeleteOoo, I love a good fresh salsa. Must try.
ReplyDeleteFor me, spring is the first perfect strawberry. Sadly, those are a ways a way yet in southwestern PA.
Yum! I do love strawberries.
DeleteFantastic recipe, Jenn! I know who I will be sharing it with. Like so many others here, fresh asparagus is truly the first taste of spring. I know longer grow my own because my dog kept helping herself and there was never much left over. She does the same thing with the little tomatoes too. Happily, she has not (yet) developed a taste for cucumbers or blueberries.
ReplyDeleteA veggie eating dog? That's amazing!
DeleteMy sister and her family like things hotter than me. I'll need to share your recipe with them. I don't like asparagus so you may all have my portion.
ReplyDeleteLOL. I've found that asparagus has to be cooked just right - al dente - or it's a stringy mess.
DeleteI had not really thought about a taste of spring before this. It's crawdad season right now, so that should count. And local strawberries should be coming before long.
ReplyDeleteOoooh, I love crawdads! It's been ages since I've had some.
DeleteI have some Louisiana crawfish in the freezer, was going to make etouffee for Fat Tuesday but didn't manage it. I need a chef!!
DeleteDebs, you need a chef? Maybe Jenn's husband can talk to yours!
DeleteJenn, if we ever manage to have that Jungle Reds con we've talked about, I vote your hubs man the bar and make the salsa! That bit about tequila is pure genius.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm once again reminded that you and I apparently live on different planets, as I just got in from shoveling off the steps/walk from the driveway from our second snowfall in as many days. I won't see homegrown peppers until late July. SOB!
Jenn, I would have to make the kid-friendly version, but with the tequila! Hub's peppers would be too hot for me, but otherwise it sounds delicious. We are having a pretty week here and it's making me think about starting tomatoes and peppers--but temps are dropping next week. Not quite time yet. Spring is asparagus and new potatoes and strawberries, gearing up for local peaches and blueberries in June. Yum!
ReplyDeletePretty much the same as what you said,Deb! Except we have a generous friend with a greenhouse, so we get fresh tomatoes nearly year round!
DeleteI'm jealous, Lynn!
DeleteYum, yum, yum! We don't have fresh serrano peppers here in my neck of the woods, but hubs ordered seeds from Johnny Seeds not too long ago so there is hope for us for the fall. I bet this would be a perfect fall salsa, too. Oh, Jenn's hub, I've purloined your recipe. It sounds fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI'm a wimp when it comes to hot peppers. And of course our garden tomatoes or peppers don't come until well past mid=summer. Traditionally "spring" here is garden peas. And strawberries. And asparagus.
ReplyDeleteTrader Joe's almost always has fresh peas in their produce section, Hallie. I adore them. So funny because I hated peas when I was growing up--but then I'd never tasted a fresh one.
DeleteYum. A bit too hot for me but I can substitute. Tequila is genius.
ReplyDeleteSpring for me means flowers first - helleborus -- because last frost isn't until Memorial Day Weekend. It is a long wait for out of the garden spring vegetables. When they do show up, it is asparagus first then scapes. I have a farm share from a local organic farm so we get it right out of the ground. Now I'm hungry.
I'm more of a mild salsa person myself. The hot stuff doesn't like me much, but I can see adjusting this recipe and it being good for me.
ReplyDeleteToday I had lunch out with a friend for the first time in forever, and one of the items I ate was a fresh fruit cup. It was so yummy, with the fruit being spring-time fresh.
AndI cannot wait for our tomatoes! I am ridiculously excited about them.
ReplyDelete