Stone Fruit Salsa

 I am a pretty good cook, which is a good thing for the people I cook for.  The problem is, when I ask how a dish is I generally get the stock answer, "Everything you cook is good."   "It's a keeper."

This past weekend was a fall tailgate for the Alabama game, even though there was no tail and we gated in the den.  The main attraction was ribs.  I wanted to serve something to cut the fattiness of the ribs.  As it turns out, the rub was a bit on the spicy side, so something cooling was also in order.

There has been truly lovely fruit at the local big box store.   The trouble with lovely fruit at the local big box store is the fruit comes in big boxes.  There have been plums and apricots and those hybrid plumcot, Pluot, and Aprium varieties and some nice peaches, though they are not peaches from Chilton County, Alabama,  home of the worlds greatest peaches, but I digress....

Several times I have bought fruit and every time, I have ended up making jam, as I cannot eat all the big boxes before the fruit starts to get overripe.  Not that jars of pluotpriumcot jam is not delightful.

For my ribs, I thought it would be nice to make fruity salsa with my bounty.   It turned out to be a keeper and one of the few recipes that has garnered multiple requests and lingering reviews.

Stone Fruit Salsa

8 stone fruits (a combination of plums, apricots, peaches, plumcot, Pluot, and Aprium, even cherries would work), roughly chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 English  cucumber, chopped
Chopped cilantro or parsley
Salt to taste
1 lemon, juiced

Mix everything together in a bowl. Let sit at least one hour to marinate the flavors.

The lemon was an afterthought.  After I tasted the salsa I thought it needed just a touch of brightening.  I also thought a splash of a cider or fruity vinegar would add a nice touch.  If I was serving the salsa with a plain chicken or pork, I might as a finely chopped jalapeno, as there is no such thing as "too hot" for me.   I am sure I will keep tweaking this one.

Beet Cake with Dried Cherries

For Valentine's Day, I made a beet cake studded with dried cherries. I had a bag of Cherry Medley from King Arthur Flour in Vermont and a can of beets and this cake seemed a natural.



I cheated on the recipe and used the canned beets, though freshly roasted beets are much preferred. A 15 ounce can of beets is just enough. Drain the beets and blitz them in a Cuisinart to get a nice consistency as beets can be a bit hard. Don't worry too much if your can of beet mash comes in a little over or under a cup, it should be just fine.

Beet Cake with Dried Cherries

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed beet
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup dried cherries, dredged boldly


Whisk the flour, sugar, spice, soda and salt together to blend.

Mix the beets, eggs, oil, and milk.

Add the beet mixture to the dry ingredients and blend well.

Fold in the dredged fruit.


Pour into prepared Lucinda’s Wooden Cake Box.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

This sweet and tender cake proved to be a hit for Valentine's Day.

Beets make a great ingredient in these rich, moist cakes, like carrot or zucchini. You may not think of it but parsnips and summer squash can also work. Don't be afraid to experiment with this type of "tea cake."