Mango and Peach Salsa

When I was growing up, our family never had Spaghetti Night, Lasagna Night, Chicken Pot Pie Night, or any other dedicated dinner. Mostly, it was Leftovers Night, not that I’m complaining or anything. However, in the past few years, we have adopted Fish Taco Night.

It comes around frequently during the summer, when fresh produce and warm weather makes the meal all the more enjoyable. In addition to the requisite fish (almost always grilled), we also make a smorgasbord of tasty toppings to accompany the tacos, from raw garnishes like shredded cabbage and diced tomatoes and cucumbers, to more involved but no less satisfying offerings of rice and black beans with corn, carrot salad with a tangy yogurt dressing, creamy guacamole, and delicious and spicy cheese dip (made with beer, it’s outrageously good!).

On our last fish taco night, I was inspired to create a mango salsa. We’ve previously purchased a peach and mango salsa from Costco, but it’s hard to consume a mass quantities of that salsa and the homemade version is so easy and the peaches so good this time of year that it was a no-brainer to make this one myself.

In the past when I’ve made mango salsas, they always turned out more like relish than a cohesive salsa. No disrespect to relish, but I prefer the texture of this salsa, which gets it base from pureed peaches and mangoes, which create a syrupy, almost creamy backdrop to the diced fruit. Hints of lime and hot sauce, which can be adjusted according to your preference, complete the combination of sweet, tangy, and spicy.

This upcoming school year, my roommates and I have decided to initiate Friday Night Dinners (I think the Gilmore Girls reference was lost on everyone but me). Each Friday we’ll celebrate the upcoming weekend by all making a meal together. While I’m sure the requisite pizza and spaghetti will be in our futures, I also have no doubt that they’ll be a few Fish Taco Nights, as well.

Tell me: What would be on your Friday Night Dinner menu?

Mango and Peach Salsa

Use very ripe fruit in this salsa, which will allow you to make the puree by hand and also imbue natural sweetness to the salsa. Adjust the amount of hot sauce to your taste; I use a few dashes, but you may find that more or less is better suited to your taste buds. If you have some, a sprinkling of chopped fresh mint pairs wonderfully here. Finally, don’t forget a pinch of salt, which brings out the flavor of every component of this dish. I can’t emphasize enough how essential salt is to virtually everything I make in the kitchen.

Yield: about 1 cup salsa

1 medium mango
1 medium peach
Juice of 1 lime
Hot sauce, to taste (I use 3 or 4 dashes)
Pinch of salt

Peel the mango with a knife of sharp vegetable peeler. Slice the flesh off the mango, contouring the blade of the knife around the oblong pit. Take about 1/3 of the mango flesh, chop it into rough pieces, and place into a bowl. Using the back of spoon or a potato masher, mash the flesh until it is broken down and almost completely smooth and pureed. Dice the remaining mango into ½-inch pieces and set aside.

Halve the peach. Take one half and, holding it cut-side down, squeeze out the flesh into the bowl with the pureed mango (this is why soft, ripe fruit is essential). Mash the peach and mango together until you have a mostly smooth puree. Dice the other peach half into ½-inch pieces and add to the mango/peach puree along with the diced mango. Add lime, hot sauce, and salt and stir to combine.



Serve immediately with tortilla chips or crudites or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. The salsa keeps, stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to a week.

Fig and Balsamic Onion Compote

When my mom came home with a flat of fresh figs last week, I was overjoyed. Fresh figs? In Georgia? A whole flat of them, too? Figs have, for some time, entranced me. They’re not readily available down South, and I read all about them in cookbooks, on blogs, and in magazines. Still, no amount of ogling over their beauty and dreaming of what I could do with them could have ever prepared me for, you know, what to actually do with them when faced with the proposition of thirty or so quickly ripening figs.
             
We enjoyed the first few plain, biting into them like apples and savoring the sweet succulence. They were delicious atop homemade pizza with some creamy cheese to balance the sweetness. Still, I remained indecisive about how to use the rest of them. I knew for sure I wanted to utilize them in a dessert, but it’s been so hot (and humid!) here, that the idea of turning on the oven for an extended period of time hasn't been exactly enticing.

At the moment, I’m still pondering a sweet application that can really let these fresh figs shine, but for now I’m perfectly happy enjoying this sweet and savory fig and onion compote. Perfect atop toasted bread, it marries the caramel sweetness of slowly melted onions with the floral sweetness of figs. I cooked a portion of the figs with the onions and a splash of balsamic vinegar for acidity until everything had melded and cooked down a good bit. Then, for some contrast—both in texture and in flavor—I added some more chopped fresh figs, waited just a moment until they were warmed through, and took everything off the heat to preserve the freshness of the figs. I love the duality of this topping, which would be equally delicious on a cheese plate or as a complement to roasted chicken. The balsamic vinegar provides more tang than sweetness and balances the onions and figs wonderfully. The cooked down figs are sweeter than the raw ones, which have a more intense flavor.

I chose to leave the compote a little bit chunkier so that it would be easier to spread on bread, but to make it into more of a sauce, you could add the deglazing liquid (which also makes a divine bread dipper!). Either way, I was quite pleased with this on-the-fly concoction. And in the meantime, I’ll be sure to report on where those final fleeting figs end up.

Fig and Balsamic Onion Compote

I used a Vidalia onion because they're locally available and in season right now, but because the onion gets caramelized anyway, a plain white or Spanish onion will do fine, too. It's completely optional to deglaze the pan once you've made the compote, but I strongly urge you to do so. You don't want to waste any of the deliciousness that will be leftover in the pan. In addition to topping some nice crusty bread with this, this compote would be marvelous mixed with Greek yogurt or stirred into rice or quinoa.

Yield: about 1 cup compote (and 1/4 cup deglazed sauce)

For the compote:
1 medium onion, medium-diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Water
10 fresh figs, chopped into ½-inch pieces, divided

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 sprig fresh thyme (about 2 teaspoons)

For deglazing sauce (optional):
Water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Sugar, to taste

Heat a medium nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions. After about a minute, the onions will start to brown ever so slightly and release a little moisture. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Stir with a wooden spoon and allow to cook for 2 to 3 more minutes. Once a thin layer of browned bits (called fond) has formed on the bottom of the pan, add a splash of water. Scrape the bottom of the pan to release the browned bits. The onions will subsequently take on a caramel color.

Continue this process, cooking for a few minutes, allowing the fond to form, and then deglazing the pan with water, for about 10 more minutes, or until the onions have substantially softened and are a deep brown color.

After the onions have softened and caramelized for about 15 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-low, add half of the figs, and cook for about 2 minutes, or until more fond has formed on the bottom of the pan. Deglaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar and stir to incorporate the vinegar. Add the thyme.

Cook the onions and figs together for 10 to 15 more minutes, stirring occasionally and smashing the figs with the back of the wooden spoon. Once the figs have taken on a jam-like consistency, add the rest of the figs. Stir to incorporate and allow the rest of the figs to warm through, which should take about a minute. Transfer to a separate container.

Serve the compote warm or at room temperature. The compote will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 1 week (if it lasts that long).

If you opt to make the deglazing sauce (and I suggest you do because you don’t want to waste anything leftover in that pan), return the pan to medium heat. Add about ¼ cup water and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release the browned bits. Add the balsamic vinegar and mustard and stir until smooth. Allow the  mixture to reduce and simmer away until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Season with sugar to taste (about 1 teaspoon should do), adding additional water (to smooth out the flavors) or balsamic vinegar (to amp up the acidity) as necessary. Serve warm or at room temperature, separately or added back to the compote to make a delicious sauce. The deglazed sauce will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 1 week.

Homemade Ricotta with Herb Honey and Orange Toast

My favorite food city is, without question, New York. I love everything about the food atmosphere there. More so than any place I've ever traveled to, New Yorkers seem to really care about what they eat. Dining out is as much about the experience as it is about the food.

One dish in particular that stands out of the dozens I've tried in New York is whipped sheep's milk ricotta. At Locanda Verde, a restaurant in TriBeCa, it is served with truffle honey. And a hint of thyme. And burnt orange toast. Take it in.

Whipped sheep's milk ricotta, though? I know, that may sound a bit strange. And truffle honey and thyme and burnt orange toast? I know, it's a mouthful. But this appetizer (although, to be honest, I could eat it a whole bowl as a meal) is so insanely good. After my perfect cheesecake, this is the best thing I've ever  shared on this blog.

Despite the multiple components of the dish, it really is so simple. Cheese + bread = yum. For this reason, it's imperative that the star - the ricotta cheese - is of the best quality you can find. Using fresh ricotta is vital. Surprisingly, fresh ricotta can be somewhat difficult to track down, even in Los Angeles, where I made this with my sister. After coming up empty at Whole Foods, we headed to The Cheesestore of Silverlake. They, too, were out. We were pretty discouraged by this point (if a cheese shop didn't have it, then who else would?), but the woman working at the cheese shop started on about how easy it was to make ricotta cheese at home.

And she's right. I'd read about it countless times before. While it's not technically ricotta cheese because it doesn't use the leftover whey  from the cheese-making process like real ricotta does, it's undeniably delicious and miles ahead of anything store-bought in terms of texture and flavor. Creamy with a sweet, milky flavor, the ricotta is further enhanced with a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Taking inspiration from Locanda Verde, we then grilled up slices of a crusty hearth loaf and spritzed them with orange juice. Oh my. I was a bit nervous that our homemade ricotta simply wouldn't stand up to the lofty memories I had of Locanda Verde's rendition. Was I ever wrong. Even if I won't be making it back to New York soon to indulge in all its epicurean offerings, I'll rest assured that I can treat myself to this simplest of treats anytime.

Fresh Ricotta with Herb Honey and Orange Toast 
Inspired by Locanda Verde's Whipped Sheep's Milk Ricotta

If you used a lower-fat milk to make the homemade ricotta instead of whole milk, you can make the ricotta richer here by substituting half and half or heavy cream for the milk. Orange zest can be used in place of the lemon zest. To warm the honey, place it in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on medium power for 1 minute. Be careful that the honey doesn't overflow. Alternatively, heat it in a small saucepan over low heat.

Yield: 4-6 servings

About 1 cup fresh ricotta cheese, homemade (recipe below) or store-bought
3-4 tablespoons milk
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Herb Honey, warmed (recipe below)
Orange Toast (recipe below)

In a small bowl, combine ricotta and milk. The ricotta should be creamy but not too loose. Add more milk to reach the desired consistency. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Add the lemon zest and stir to combine. Drizzle the Herb Honey over the ricotta. Serve alongside warm slices of Orange Toast. 

Homemade Ricotta
Adapted from Serious Eats

Most versions of homemade ricotta utilize the stove to separate the curds in the milk from the whey. This version is far easier and far less fussy, using the microwave instead. It's important to use pasteurized milk instead of ultra-pasteurized milk. We used whole milk when we made this, but I have a feeling that using a lower-fat milk will work just as fine; the resulting ricotta won't taste exactly as rich, but you can certainly remedy this by using half and half or heavy cream instead of milk to mix with the ricotta in the first step of the recipe for Fresh Ricotta with Herb Honey and Orange Toast.

Yield: about 1 cup ricotta cheese

4 cups milk, preferably whole (see note)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
4 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

Begin by lining a colander with 4 layers of cheesecloth or 2 layers of paper towels and set over a large bowl. Combine 2 cups milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a microwave-safe glass 1-quart measuring cup. Microwave on high heat until lightly bubbling around the edges, anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes (ours took about 3 1/2 minutes). Remove from the microwave, and stir gently for 5 seconds. The milk should separate into solid white curds and translucent liquid whey. If not, microwave for 30 seconds longer, repeating as necessary until fully separated.

Using a slotted spoon or wire skimmer, transfer the curds to the prepared colander. Cover the exposed top with plastic wrap and allow to drain for about 5 minutes. Transfer the ricotta to a small bowl, wiping as much of the ricotta from the cheesecloth as possible. Repeat with the remaining 2 cups milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

Once you have made all the ricotta, either chill it in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it or use immediately. If you opt to chill the ricotta until you're ready to use it, allow it to come to room temperature before serving.

Herb Honey

Any combination of spices and fresh herbs would be wonderful here. Instead of (or in addition to) cloves, think about peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, or ginger. Similarly, other herbs like thyme, mint, and basil would also be delicious. Keep an eye on the honey as it heats (especially if you opt to use the microwave) to avoid any overflow.

Yield: About 1/4 cup honey

About 3 tablespoons honey
4-6 cloves
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine honey, cloves, and rosemary. Microwave until warm, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the microwave and allow to sit until ready to use. Alternatively, combine the honey, cloves, and rosemary in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until bubbling. Remove from heat and allow to sit until ready to use.

Orange Toast 

Any hearty country loaf, such as ciabatta, will work wonderfully here. Slice the bread about 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick. If you don't have a grill pan, toast the bread in the oven or in the skillet. Toast in the oven at 400 degrees F or in a skillet set over medium heat for about 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

Yield: 4 - 6 servings

8 slices (about half a loaf) of hearty, crusty bread (see note)
Extra virgin olive oil
Juice of half an orange

Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Place the slices of bread on the grill pan and brush with extra-virgin olive oil. Grill for about 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Flip the bread slices and grill for another 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the toast slices from the grill pan and spritz with the orange juice (not too much, or the bread will become soggy). Use or serve immediately.

On Cravings and Homemade Potato Chips

People who know me really well know that I am an extremely healthy eater. I generally eat fruits and vegetables during the week, and indulge more on the weekends. (However, I actually think this is quite common; people work during the week and can't cook as much, saving more complicated meals and preparations for the weekend.)

Nevertheless, just because I maintain a healthy diet doesn't mean I've totally forgotten all of my cravings (my favorite food is cheesecake, after all). I have childhood memories of eating peanut butter straight from the jar, on nothing but a spoon. Other times I'd be a bit more civilized and opt to make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, a snack that required a specific construction in order to get the taste just right (but peanut butter and bananas are a whole other story...).

My mom, in particular, absolutely loves homemade potato chips and blue cheese dip, so much so that she can make a meal out of them. But plunging potatoes into a vat of oil is not really our thing (is it anyone's?) and blue cheese dip can be pretty heavy. This healthier version of the classic combination was born out of my preferred technique for roasting potatoes in the oven (and a 5-pound bag of red potatoes from Costco). I sliced them very thin, about a quarter of an inch, so that they would cook fast and crisp up, and I seasoned them liberally with salt and pepper. And then into the oven they went. About 20 minutes later, they came out of the oven crisp and golden, reminiscent of slightly thicker potato chips. My mom took this idea and ran with it. These chips have all the flavor of deeply roasted potato chips, but they're baked instead of fried.

As for the other half of the duo, the blue cheese dip, nonfat Greek yogurt and some low-fat buttermilk combine to form a healthier base for the pungent blue cheese. The acidity of both complements the blue cheese, as well. There's really no getting around the cheese in the dip, but if you use a high-quality blue cheese, a little goes a long way.

There's a lot to be said for a snack (or, if you're my mom, a dinner's worth) that satisfies a craving and your conscience. I'm not the biggest blue cheese fan, but even I can appreciate these, and on a Tuesday night no less.

Homemade Potato Chips with Blue Cheese Dip

Okay, I'm going to say right off the bat that this "recipe" is not very precise. As much as I love to bake, when I measure willingly and often, when I cook, I hardly ever measure. But I made sure to pay extra attention to the method that my mom used to make the chips and to the ingredients that went into the blue cheese dip. The truth is, making the potato chips is more of a technique and, depending on your oven, times can vary somewhat. Don't be afraid to taste the chips. You can generally tell when they're done when they smell like potatoes. As for the dip, season it to taste. Try a little to make sure that it has enough kick from the hot sauce and that the blue cheese packs the perfect amount of punch.

Yield: 4 servings

For the potato chips:

About 10 small to medium red potatoes, scrubbed

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garlic powder or other seasoning (optional; imagine rosemary or thyme, or even a barbecue seasoning blend if you're a fan of that famous flavor)

Vegetable oil spray

For the blue cheese dip:

About 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt, preferably nonfat (you can also use sour cream, but you will need less buttermilk if you do; to make homemade Greek yogurt, drain plain yogurt in a sieve lined with cheesecloth or paper towels for a few hours, until thick and creamy)

2-3 tablespoons of low-fat buttermilk

About 1/4 cup of crumbled, high-quality blue cheese (I used gorgonzola)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Hot sauce, to taste

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. (Our oven has a convection roast setting, and that's what we use. If your oven does not have this setting, use the same oven temperature, but the chips will likely take longer to cook.) Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with vegetable oil spray. (I also think using a Silpat or silicone mat would work and you wouldn't even need the spray.)

Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can, no more than 1/8 of an inch. Arrange about half on the baking sheet in an even layer and season liberally with salt, pepper, and garlic powder or other seasoning (if desired). Repeat with the remaing potatoes. There will be a lot of potato slices and they won't all fit in an even layer, but just make sure they are as spread out as evenly as possible with no large clumps of potatoes.

Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes; remove the potatoes from the oven and toss them. As they begin to cook, it will seem as if they are steaming. Because red potatoes are high in moisture content, the water must cook off before they begin to brown. Continue to bake, tossing the potatoes about every five or so minutes. Don't worry if the potatoes stick together, but try your best to break up any huge clumps. In our oven it takes about 25 minutes for them to cook completely. When they are done, they are nicely browned and crisped. Try a few to make sure they are done to your liking. Once they are cooked, turn off the oven and let the potatoes sit in the oven to evaporate off a little more moisture.

Meanwhile, make the blue cheese dip. Combine the Greek yogurt, buttermilk, blue cheese, salt, pepper and hot sauce in a bowl and stir to combine. The consistency should be thick but dippable. Add more buttermilk if you like a thinner dip. Cover and refrigerate for later or serve right away with the (still warm, yum) potato chips.