«
»

A taste of fall – Apple Salsa

by · October 12th, 2007
Cooking, CSA/Tuv Ha'Aretz, Fruit, Holidays, Recipes, Rosh Hashanah

My kitchen is overflowing with apples.  Yesterday, a bag full of sweet, crisp, big-as-my-head globes came home with my roommate from our CSA.  They were promptly piled into a wicker basket on our kitchen table…atop the remaining apples from last week’s CSA. 

appleharvest.jpg

Don’t get me wrong, I love apples – there’s nothing better than a Honey Crisp, Winesap, or Ginger Gold  slathered with peanut butter or Nutella, baked into cobblers and glistening tarts, or raw when I’m running out the door.  They’re simultaneously iconic (think Adam and Eve, keeping the doctor away, your elementary school teacher’s desk…) and humble-like weather-worn barns dotting the New England countryside. 

But after the apple & honey (or maple syrup) overload of Rosh Hashanah, I’m ready to take a break – at least until it’s time to make apple sauce for latkes.  Harvest season has other plans, however – post-Rosh Hashanah is exactly when things start to heat up in the New England apple world.  So, instead of giving up on pile of apples that will continue to grow on my kitchen table for the next month, and find I decided to take my familiar apples into less familiar territory with a recipe for apple salsa.  If you have other “unfamiliar” apple recipes, I’d love to hear them.

RECIPE BELOW THE JUMP

Apple Salsa
serves 4

3 regular-sized local apples (or 2 mondo-sized apples), cored and roughly chopped
1 small-medium onion, roughly chopped
1/2 Jalapeño, deseeded and finely choped
A big handful of fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Juice of one lemon
2 teaspoons of Agave nectar or maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Serve with blue corn chips or Kettle’s Chili Lime tortilla chips. This salsa tastes great served right away and even better the next day, when the flavors have had time to mingle.

The painting featured above, ”Apple Harvest,” is by David Lawton.  See more here.

Print This Post Print This Post

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “A taste of fall – Apple Salsa”

  1. Leah Koenig Says:
    October 13th, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    I was walking down the street today and came across a pile of things that someone had left on their stoop for people to take (typical for Brooklyn). I found a beautiful “food mill” that would be the perfect tool for making apple sauce. That pile of apples doesn’t stand a chance!

  2. yoseph leib Says:
    October 14th, 2007 at 3:36 pm

    That sounds like a relly good warm day recipe– I don’t know how excited for it I would be in autumn chilliness.

    I had good luck in Montreal before Simchas Torah with a Chutney recipe born out of a similar Apple Excess– apples are big there. I wanted something light, sweet and fruity, but it was so cold– I wanted something spicy and warming too.

    very ripe Apples
    Onion (not too much, whatever that means to you)
    Tumeric, nutmeg and basil to taste
    Dulse seaweed

    A little of any green vegetable would go well inhere to, esp. something on it’s way out of hard to eat on it’s own, like lettuce that had gone to seed, or maybe mustard green?

    The tumeric could be substituted with any strong warming spice. Someone of a hungarian constitution might like paprika? I dug the tumeric.

    I also used bananas in my version, just because they were so cheap and plentiful over at the healthfood store, 50 cents a pound! But i don’t know that i would recommend going out of one’s way to get some for this. I’m part Ecuadorean, so I have some kind of very natural affinity to them, even if I’m nowhere tropical, but int the interest of sustainability, I don’t like selling them as crucial parts of a recipe. But yeah, they combine well in this chutney

    Basically, cut up the apples (the riper they are, the less you have to), and toss them in a saucepan at medium/low heat. the later in the winter, the lower the heat for longer. Dice in the onions, followed by seaweed and spices. Stir a little bit, then cover for about ten minutes on low heat.

    I served it with Goat Yogurt or Kefir. Sour foods are good in the fall al pi Traditional Chinese Medicine, so a vegan might want to put some vinegar and maybe nut butter on top of this– but for a light, energizing warm tonic, as is should be perfect.

    Soy or Rice milk would NOT combine well digestively with this dish, and Soy milk has no place in the diet once the weather gets cold. Nut milk, feremented or otherwise, might work well here. I liked the yogurt, but the truth is, it’s fine on it’s own.

  3. Leah Koenig Says:
    October 14th, 2007 at 9:42 pm

    Wow Yoseph! Your recipe certainly adds some spice to the traditional apple dishes I’m familiar with. Sounds yummy – down to the goat yogurt on top.

Leave a Reply