This month’s box is full of summer goodness. You have the ingredients for salsas, both red and green, guacamole, green salad, and a fruit salad or soup. Several ways to put the ingredients together.
The Grove
Avocado
Gaytan Family Farm
Carrots
Celery
Cilantro
Jalapeno
Tomatillo
Lime
Lettuce - Romaine
Yellow Onions
Strawberries
The Fruit Guy
Cantaloupe -Riverside County
Corona Farm
Red Tomatoes
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Easy to make and useful for many Mexican dishes is green salsa. Great for cheese, chicken, tofu enchiladas. I like to simmer cooked chicken or tofu pieces in a frying pan, covered in green sauce for a flavorful taco or enchilada filling. If you have an abundance of tomatillos, this sauce is worth freezing in small batches for later use. Remove the husk from the tomatillos, and rinse to remove the stickiness before cooking.
Tomatillo Salsa Verde
From Allrecipes.com
Ingredients
1 pound tomatillos, husked
½ cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 minced chile pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
2 cups water
Directions
Place tomatillos, onion, garlic, and chile pepper into a saucepan. Season with cilantro, oregano, cumin, and salt; pour in water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the tomatillos are soft, 10 to 15 minutes.
Puree in a blender until smooth.
For another way to use tomatillos, try this
Tomatillo Salad Dressing
Ingredients
¼ medium white onion, quartered
1 small tomatillo, husk removed
1 jalapeño, sliced, seeds removed
1 garlic clove
¼ avocado, chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Tasty on roasted veggies such as squash or onions, or on grilled Romaine lettuce. Toss with more avocado, lime juice, cotija cheese, and cilantro
Fresh Tomato Salsa (Pico de Gallo)
Ingredients
2 to 3 medium sized fresh tomatoes (1 to 1 1/2 pounds), stems removed
1/2 red onion
2 serrano chiles or 1 jalapeño chile (stems, ribs, seeds removed), less or more to taste
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch dried oregano (crumble in your fingers before adding), more to taste
Pinch ground cumin, more to taste
Directions
Prep the ingredients: Roughly chop the tomatoes, chiles, and onions. Be careful while handling the chile peppers. Use a plastic baggie or disposable gloves to handle them, or wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water after handling and avoid touching your eyes for several hours.
Set aside some of the seeds from the peppers. If the salsa isn't hot enough, you can add a few for more heat.
Make the salsa: Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade. Pulse only a few times, just enough to finely dice the ingredients and not enough to purée. If you don't have a food processor, you can finely dice by hand.
Adjust seasonings: Place in a serving bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. If the chilies make the salsa too hot, add some more chopped tomato. If it's not hot enough, carefully add a few of the seeds from the chilies, or add a little more ground cumin.
Let the salsa sit for an hour (room temperature or chilled) for the flavors to combine.
If your palate needs cooling, here is a unique way to use your cantaloupe. Recipe notes: Cantaloupe soup is often overly sweet and one-dimensional. Not so with Chef Gwen’s Chilled Cantaloupe Soup. She adds orange, lemon and lime juice to the fruit, giving it a healthy blast of acidity, and then spices the soup with cinnamon and salt. When you taste it, you first get the sweet fruit, which seems impossibly bright and refreshing, and this is followed by waves of cinnamon. The soup, which takes 5 minutes to prepare, separates as it sits, so give it a stir before serving and get it ice, ice cold. And don’t forget the mint and yogurt swirls, which aren’t merely decorative -- the yogurt enriches the soup and the mint adds a note of freshness.
Chilled Cantaloupe Soup
From Food 52. Serves 6.
Ingredients
6 cups chopped cantaloupe, about 1 (4 pound) melon
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 sprig fresh mint
Directions
Place all ingredients, except for the mint, in a large bowl and stir.
Place half the mixture in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour soup into a pitcher, and repeat with remaining mixture.
Taste and whisk in more cinnamon, honey or even lemon juice if desired. It should taste sweet and tart, with only a hint of cinnamon. Chill the soup until ready to serve.
Remove the mint leaves from the stem (discard) and stack the leaves on top of each other. Roll lengthwise into a tight "cigar." Slice crosswise into thin strips.
Pour the chilled soup into six soup bowls. Garnish each with a sprinkle of shredded mint and serve.
Or, try some
Cantaloupe Cilantro Sorbet
Ingredients
1 Cantaloupe
1 cup sugar1 cup water
1/4 cup cilantro
Directions
Combine the sugar and water in a sauce pan until the sugar dissolves. Let cool. Meanwhile cut up the Cantaloupe and put in a blender. Then add the Cilantro leaves and blend until smooth.
Combine the puree and the sugar syrup together and put in the refrigerator until chilled. Freeze in your ice cream maker per the instructions.
Another cold dessert, that won my family’s approval. Recipe Notes: I’ve also made this with 2% Greek yogurt, and the texture just wasn’t good - a bit chalky. So go for full fat plain yogurt here. *On the citrus juice front, you’re aiming for 3/4 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup fresh orange juice, and 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice.
Frosty Lime Sherbet
From 101Cookbooks. Makes about 1 1/2 pints.
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups fresh citrus juice* (from 4 limes, 1 orange, 2 lemons)
1 cup / 8 ounces / granulated sugar
1 cup / 240 ml water
1 1/2 cups / 12 ounces full-fat plain yogurt
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
Directions
Start by zesting the limes, set aside. Now juice the limes, orange, and lemons. Strain, and measure out 1 1/3 cups of fresh juice (combine 3/4 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup fresh orange juice, and 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice) and refrigerate.
Make a simple syrup by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir and cook until the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat, and when cool enough to handle, transfer to a jar and refrigerate until cool.
Combine the citrus juice, simple syrup, and yogurt in a medium bowl. Mix, using a hand blender, until smooth.
Freeze using manufacturer’s instructions in an ice-cream maker, adding the salt and lime zest when the sherbet is the consistency of thick frosting. Serve or transfer to a freezer immediately.
*1 1/3 cup total: 3/4 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup fresh orange juice, and 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice.