Strawberry Salsa

Red, sweet, and delicious! Yes folks, its strawberry season. Our strawberry stand has been open for a few weeks now and is hitting its stride. This weekend I am picking up a half flat of Aromas strawberries at a stand in Southern California where they have 6 different varieties to choose from. It almost feels like wine tasting, each having a different complexity to its sweetness. The Aromas however seem to have just a little tang to them that I think will go well with some of the recipes I have planned for this week.

So, we all have seen dozens upon dozens of strawberry dessert recipes, I may even use some of my own this week with my red beauties. However, here at Fresh From Market I want to give you something different, a twist on the ingredient that enhances it’s flavor in a new way. Also, I do have an ulterior motive. With all the upcoming barbeque parties, and get-togethers coming with summer, I am in need of a good new appetizer recipe. I need something that will impress my friends, who are also excellent in the kitchen. That’s how I have come up with this tangy, sweet, and even spicy Strawberry Salsa. Yes, it does have sweetness to it but like all good salsa it has spice! I am going to serve it with pita chips but if there are leftovers I am thinking that drizzled over grilled halibut will be amazing too. We’ll see about the leftovers, all signs so far point to making more.

And now shall we say, “Bon Appetite, now we may eat!”

Strawberry Salsa

(3 cups)

Ingredients:

2 baskets of strawberries, diced

½ cup diced red onion

¼ cup diced jalapeno pepper with seeds

3 T chopped cilantro

2 clove garlic, minced

3 tablespoons honey

salt and pepper to taste

Pita Chips, for serving

Directions:

Mix all ingredients gently, being careful not to mash strawberries. Serve with pita chips.

Lemon Zucchini Scones

“Tea anyone?”

With a few of the baby zucchinis left and my love for baked goods I thought it would be fun to try something new this morning, lemon zucchini scones. These scones are very fresh and light (not in calories mind you). The lemon and zucchini complement each other well and just to give them a little punch they include a dash of nutmeg and a grind of fresh pepper. Yes pepper, that wasn’t a typo.

Before we get baking, a few words on scones, and these in particular. After much research and baking many a scone there are few things to keep in mind when baking your first batch.

First, your butter must start cold and stay cold. This means that you mix your dry, have your liquid mixture ready on stand by, and only take the butter out of the fridge when you are ready to cut it into the dry mixture. When you are cutting in the butter try to avoid touching it with your hands. Your hands will warm the butter, so will a lot of friction, like a food processor or mixer, so just use a pastry cutter. Also, move quickly, once you have the butter cut in to the point that it looks like a cross between course cornmeal and very small peas, pour in your liquids and work them in with a spatula swiftly.

Second, don’t over mix your liquids into the dough. At the final stage you will mix the liquids in with the dries and it will not look all the way mixed. You may even be tempted to add liquid, “DON’T!” It just needs to be mixed enough to come together. By the way, it is only when you turn the dough out on to the work surface that you will touch it with your hands. Forming it into a large rectangle with your hands will help bind it together enough to form your scones. Just remember to work quickly and don’t overwork the dough. You know you’ve done it right if the scones are still cool to the touch when you place them on the baking sheet.

Now just a couple of notes about these scones. You will notice that the grated zucchini needs to be squeezed dry. This means that after you grate it, place it in the middle of a double layer of paper towels, fold the paper towels over the zucchini and press the liquid out of them. This is important so that the moisture content of the scones is correct. Next, when you use nutmeg, it’s always best to use freshly grated but if you don’t have that then just toast it in a pan over the stove and this will enhance the flavor. This doesn’t take very long, seconds really, so just when you start to smell the nutmeg aroma, take it off the fire and it’s done. Then finally, I dust these scones with vanilla sugar. Vanilla sugar is simply sugar infused with the smell and taste from a vanilla bean. You can make this with a vanilla bean that you possibly used in a previous recipe where you scrapped out the insides of the bean and were left with just the husk or outside of the bean. I like to just put the bean back in the jar and fill it with sugar so that I have it on hand any time I want sugar with a little extra flavor.

So with that, I know you will be successful in your scone adventures.

And now shall we say, “Bon Appetite, now we may eat!”

Lemon Zucchini Scones

(16 Servings)

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg or toasted ground nutmeg
1 tsp lemon zest
½ cup grated zucchini, squeezed dry
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 egg
½ cup cream
Vanilla sugar for dusting

Directions:
Heat oven to 375. With pastry cutter, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg and add cream, then set aside. Add lemon zest, zucchini, and cold butter to the dry mixture and cut it in with a pastry cutter until it resembles a cross between course cornmeal and very small peas. Add liquid mixture and mix together with a pastry cutter and then spatula until the dough starts to come together. Turn out on to flat working surface and quickly form the dough into a large rectangle; dough should be about an inch thick. Cut dough into 16 triangles or other desired shape and place onto baking sheet. Dust with vanilla sugar. Bake for 15 – 18 minutes at 375.

Baby Zucchini Salad

Today at the farmers market I saw some baby zucchini and thought, "Those look so cute an yummy, and I have to get some." So with no real idea of what I was going to do with them I decided to buy a dozen or so.

Zucchini or summer squash are part of the melon and cucumber family, most of us eats the variety that originated in Italy. They come in yellow, green, or light green. Today I got the green variety, baby size, so only about 5 inches long.

Another interesting tidbit about these cute baby zucchini is that they are not a vegetable. Sure we cook with them like they are but I’m sure all of you remember the old question you ask to know the difference between vegetable and fruit, “Does it have seeds?” And well yes, zucchini does have seeds so it’s a fruit. They come from a flowering plant, and are a ripened ovary, all signs of a fruit. Either way, they are delicious and who can argue with that.

While we are going to work with baby zucchini this week, larger ones are excellent, and also the flowers are edible and very delicious, but we will have to cover those topics a different week.

Whenever I am trying to decide what I want to do with an ingredient I do something really novel – I taste it! These baby zucchini tasted fresh, slightly sweet, and were nice and crisp. That meant according to my taste buds that all signs were pointing to a nice fresh salad. Given their Italian origins and what I had in my refrigerator and pantry I decided to follow that path to the following salad.

I will be pairing this tonight with a fresh mozzarella and basil grilled pizza. But this would also go wonderfully with grilled halibut or seared scallops. I’d love to hear from you what you decided to pair it with, send me a note.

And now shall we say, “Bon Appetite, now we may eat!”

Baby Zucchini Salad

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

5 baby zucchini, sliced thinly (on mandolin is ideal)

½ red onion, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, medium dice

2 large basil leaves, finely chopped

2 T smoked olive oil*

2 T balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

Toss zucchini, red onion, red bell pepper, and basil with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Taste, and then season accordingly with salt and pepper.

* Smoked olive oil has it’s own unique taste and while you could substitute with regular olive oil I would strongly suggest trying the smoked first, it is really amazing. For information on ordering my favorite Chili Pepper Smoked olive oil, also featured in Fine Cooking recently, look for The Smoked Olive, based out of Santa Rosa, CA (www.thesmokedolive.com).