It's full blown strawberry season here in Charlotte! You know you are getting old when on a single Saturday you have a choice of Cinco de Mayo, the Kentucky Derby, the Wells Fargo Golf Tournament (i.e. large social event) and a SC Strawberry Festival and you choose the Strawberry Festival.
What? My 22 year old self is ashamed. In the end we didn't end up going... let's just say Chris wasn't as excited as I was (shocker) ... which actually was okay, to be honest I knew it was a long shot :) The local farmers market however was overflowing with sweet, ripe South Carolina strawberries. I ended up buying two quarts!
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| {taken with my phone @ farmers market} |
So what did we do with all those strawberries? Well, I bought them two days ago, and they're now gone. We made quite a few smoothies, we pureed them into a strawberry margarita (phenomenal btw), and we made a really delicious strawberry salsa fresca. Salsa fresca simply means fresh sauce and by using just picked local berries, this it was!
Sweet strawberries and kiwi are combined with a little bit of shallot, cilantro and lime juice. A jalapeno pepper is added to up the heat factor. It's up to you whether to use the seeds or not... I think it really depends on how you are using the salsa. I choose to serve this strawberry salsa fresca over blackened mahi mahi. Blackened fish is slightly spicy, so a fruity yet zesty salsa was the perfect accompaniment.
Ingredients
Inspired by the Food Matters Project
Strawberry Kiwi Salsa Fresca
1 cup of diced strawberries
1/2 cup diced kiwi
1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon of lime juice
1 tablespoon of minced shallot
1 minced jalapeno pepper {with or without seeds}
Blackened Mahi Mahi
serves 2
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
pinch of cayenne pepper
2/3 lb of mahi mahi {or any other white fish}
In a large glass bowl, combine the strawberries, kiwi, cilantro, shallot, jalapeno and lime juice. Stir together and cover. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
In a small glass bowl ,combine the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika. Sprinkle evenly on the top side of the mahi mahi. Heat a caste iron skillet over high heat. Add a little bit of olive oil and place fish in skillet. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes and then flip for another 3-4 minutes. Fish is done when it flakes with a fork.
Top fish with salsa and enjoy!
Oh, this is beautiful and looks delicious. You had me at strawberry! FYI, I would have chosen the strawberry festival too :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, glad to hear I'm not the only one!
DeleteI am so jealous of your strawberries! Our local ones here in Washington won't be available til summer or mid-summer. The ones at the store are still not quite ready. So jealous of all the good strawberries you got and of this salsa!
ReplyDeleteI know!! I am really embracing all the benefits of living in the south this year :) Last year I wasn't shopping much at farmers markets (what was I thinking!?)
ReplyDeleteWe even have tons of beautiful tomatoes from SC!
I love what you made. It has been a while since I blackened some fish. Your salsa would be great with it.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, your salsa and mahi mahi look so perfect together. YUM!
ReplyDeleteI’ve made this twice now and I will probably make it hundreds of times more. Absolutely delicious. I cut my strawberries into very small dice–easier to scoop up that way.
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ReplyDeletewww.jessicayurinko.com
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