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I served this peach salsa with the pulled chicken quesadillas yesterday.  It is easy to open up a bottle of salsa but it is never as delicious as the one you can make at home. It is super simple but somehow a lot of people are very nervous about making salsas at home.

Well, I am here to convince you that these sauces are very easy to put together. I had lots of peaches in the fridge. All I did was add some chopped cilantro, green onions, garlic, lime juice, honey and smoked paprika to the chopped peaches. That was it… The key is to let it sit at room temperature for a few hours before serving. The flavors blend together beautifully and the salsa complements the quesadillas really well. You can also serve the salsa with chips or even a piece of fish.
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I love making salsas in the summer. In fact any time any one is coming over, I find myself making salsa to serve with tortilla chips. I know it is very easy to buy really great salsas in the store, but … nothing like homemade salsa. First of all it tastes a lot fresher (obviously) and a lot tastier. The jarred variety always has a particular ‘old’ flavor about the salsa that I don’t care for. Don’t get me wrong… I do have the store bought variety in my fridge that I use in a bind but I prefer to make my own.

So, when some friends were coming over for a barbecue, I decide to raid my fridge and make a mango and nectarine salsa. I chopped everything fine including the onion and the cilantro. To make things interesting, I decided to roast the jalapenos. It gave the sauce a milder, nuttier flavor.

It was a big hit with the tortilla chips but it would be fabulous with any meat or fish.. or even tacos.. Try this one next time you are in the mood for something delicious and fresh..
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I have trying to get reservations at a place called La Esquina in New York. The restaurant is divided into a taqueria, a cafe and a brasserie. It is the brasserie that takes reservation and it is very hard to make them! A few weeks ago I got an email featuring the chef and his signature sauces. One of them was the salsa verde.. it was like a typical green Mexican style sauce but it also included avocado.

I immediately wanted to make the sauce and I decided to serve it on top of grilled shrimp. The recipe was quite easy to follow but tried to tweak it a bit to my taste. I added all the ingredients into a blender including tomatillos, jalapeno, an avocado, lime juice, onion, cilantro and a tad bit of olive oil. This sauce goes amazing with seafood. I grilled some shrimp and we enjoyed it with a salad. It can also be served with tortilla chips and it can be used as a taco topping.

I used the leftover sauce to make a delicious one pot rice dish… recipe to come tomorrow…
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This is a great sauce to make in the spring/summer. I love making different kinds of pestos to use with pastas, on top of fish or any meat, or even as a sauce for pizza. In fact I have made one in the past which I used in numerous dishes.

This one has fresh thyme paired with pistachios. It is a delicious sauce to simply mix with pasta. I served it with brown rice pasta with some simple chicken on the side. The great thing about this pesto is that kids will eat it.. they have no idea what is in there..

As my daughter was finishing her last bite, I asked her to guess the main ingredient in the pesto.. she had no idea and she was very surprised when I revealed it was zucchini…
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I love anything with pesto- pasta, bread, rice, as a dip, on chicken or fish.. and the list goes on. Pesto can be made with a variety of different ingredients including different vegetables. I have made pestos in the past with zucchini, broccoli rabe, etc.. this one is made with asparagus. I wanted to do a vegetarian meal and had asparagus in the fridge. Instead of making a boring pasta with asparagus, I decided to make a pesto instead.

I blanched the vegetable and then made the pesto just like I would with basil or any other ingredient. Speaking of basil, I did use it as well. I also used pistachios instead of pine nuts- no good reason really except that I love the color pistachios bring and as well as the flavor. I served the pesto with whole wheat past and some homemade focaccia. I bought some pizza dough from our local pizzeria. I rolled out the dough and topped it rosemary, salt, olive oil and cherry tomatoes.

The meal was delicious and simple- the glass of wine was yummy with the asparagus pesto…
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