Blueberry Salsa with Cilantro and Jalapeno

We've got just a few days left here in Florida, and I'm still trying to empty out my fridge/freezer and resist buying anything new from the store.  And there was a bag of frozen blueberries that I bought for smoothies, but I'm a creature of habit and always go for the frozen banana instead.  I already knew I was making fish for dinner, and figured a blueberry salsa would go nicely.  Whipped this up real quick with a few other pantry staples.

As mentioned, I used frozen blueberries, and I think these would be preferable to fresh because they get all juicy when they thaw.  However, fresh would still work, you just might want to do a little extra muddling and maybe cut in half if you have larger berries.  You could also try cooking fresh berries for 10 minutes or so on the stove to break them down a little more.

I also really wanted to use lime or lemon juice in this, but didn't have any.  So I made do with a little rice vinegar, and I think it turned out great. If you have lime or lemon juice, though, you might want to give that a try!

I served this on top of broiled flounder fillets seasoned with salt, pepper, and cumin.  Thought about adding cumin to the salsa as well, but went with it just on the fish.  If I were serving this with something like plain chips, I'd probably add the cumin to the salsa to boost the flavor.

What you need:

1 1/2-2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed (I recommend Trader Joe's wild Boreal blueberries... they are so much better than any other frozen blueberries I've ever bought!)

1/2 cup packed chopped cilantro, thickest stem end removed

2 jalapenos, diced, seeds and pith removed

2-3 tablespoons diced onion

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

salt and pepper to taste (I probably added somewhere around 1/2 teaspoon of each)


Simply mix all ingredients together, mashing lightly to help the blueberries break down a little.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes, and preferably for a couple hours, before serving to allow flavors to meld.

Enjoy!

Summer Squash with Onions, Garlic, Jalapeno, and Bacon

My first experience cooking summer squash was when I was 14 years old and obsessed with calories.  My mom told me how my grandmother used to make it-cooked way down with onions and a lot of butter- and that it was one of the simplest yet most delicious vegetable dishes.  I wasn't a fan of using butter, but used a little cooking spray and topped it afterwards with "buttery spray", which is as artificial as it sounds.  Delicious as promised, even made my low-cal way.

Fast forward 10+ years, and a variation on this is still my favorite way to cook summer squash.  I still want to keep it on the light side, but now know that leaving a tad bit of bacon grease in my pan will add a ton of flavor without compromising the healthiness of my dish (and no more buttery spray involved!).  And you can definitely skip the bacon and use a little bit of some other fat (olive oil, butter, or coconut oil).  Sometimes I add a tiny drizzle of truffle oil at the end.

The key to this dish is letting it cook for a bit.  The method is sort of a combination of sauteing and stewing.  There is plenty of moisture as the squash breaks down, but the heat is higher than a traditional stewing process and there is more browning.  The heat is low enough, though, that some moisture does build up and you don't have to stir as often as during traditional sautes.

The end result should have some nice golden color and also reduce down to almost create a mush (I was actually a little impatient this time around... my squash wasn't quite mush enough! :-/). This is what really lets the natural sweetness shine and eliminates the need for additional seasoning.  The bacon adds a little salt, so you won't need to add extra unless you don't use bacon.

4-5 strips bacon
1 medium onion (I used a sweet onion), sliced or diced
3 small summer squash, sliced thinly
1 head garlic, peeled and cloves cut into slices
1 jalapeno
4 green onions


Start by frying the bacon in a large frying pan over medium/medium-high heat.  Once the bacon is fully cooked (the crispier you make it, the more you render the fat out), remove the strips from the pan and drain over paper towel.  Discard all but 1-2 teaspoons of the bacon grease.  There should be a very thin coating on the bottom of the pan.

Add the onion, squash, garlic, and jalapeno to the pan.  Saute/stew, stirring only every couple minutes, until the squash breaks down and all vegetables have a lovely golden color.  If things are sticking too much, reduce heat a little.  This should take at least 20-25 minutes and you can keep cooking it beyond that to deepen the flavor.  You can baby it if you want and stir more often, but I find that stirring less often works perfectly well and that way you can wash some dishes or prep other parts of dinner at the same time.  Once you've achieved a suitably mushy state, add the green onions and crumble in the reserved bacon strips.

And enjoy!  This would be a perfect accompaniment to some salmon or barbecued chicken.