"salsa" news and stories

The spicy-sweet strawberry salsa with which blogger Everybody Likes Sandwiches liberally tops grilled cod is gorgeously red, with tomatoes and red onion chiming in. Vibrantly flavored with chives, cilantro, chile and lime juice, it could stand up to a much bolder fish.

Fruit salsas add tropical notes where you'd guess they'd be found, such as in this recipe for mahi mahi with cumin oil and pineapple salsa, and where you might find them surprising, as in a recipe for skirt steak with orange-cilantro salsa.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

• Salsa is Mexico's "most misunderstood culinary export." It's time for a reintroduction.
• You can't cook, but you want a home-cooked meal. Enter the newest kitchen gadgets.
• Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio is back in the kitchen at his newest restaurant, Colicchio & Sons. And the food? "Terrifically good."
• The Times wine panel tasted 20 bottles of Loire wines. It's a tough job, but someone had to do it.
• In Brooklyn, barbecue meets Southeast Asia at the Fatty 'Cue.
• Where are all the cupcakes? It's actually a controversial question.

When testing salsas, we set some rules. First of all, these are all store-bought, jarred salsas. While almost every supermarket has assorted fresh salsa choices, we felt this would be unfair, as there's just no comparing a freshly made salsa with one jarred months prior. Plus, there just aren't enough fresh salsas available that are also national brands. The best fresh salsas are made locally, and in some instances, on the spot. We didn't include any canned salsas, for similar reasons.

Find out the winners after the jump.

'Fresh Mexico: 100 Simple Recipes for True Mexican Flavor'
By Marcela Valladolid
Photos by Amy Kalyn Sims
Clarkson Potter -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

Marcela Valladolid may seem familiar to fans of the short-lived "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart." She made it through 11 weeks of the show before Martha bid her "goodbye."

A former recipe tester for Bon Appétit, Valladolid landed on her feet, hosting a Discovery Familia TV show "Relatos con Sabor," and penning her first cookbook, "Fresh Mexico."

It is here that Valladolid shares family recipes from her childhood in Tijuana and San Diego, Calif., and does her best to debunk the notion that Mexican food is heaps of yellow cheese melted on tortilla chips. There is a taco recipe in "Fresh Mexico," but overall this is Mexican fare way outside the box.

Corn and tomato salsas. Photo: sporkist, Flickr.

• With just-picked farmers' market ingredients, the Salsa Lady makes sinfully spicy salsas.
• After a class-action lawsuit was filed against Dannon for overstating Activia and DanActive health benefits, the company reached a settlement.
• The Star Tribune thinks a warm September is perfect pinot grigio weather, and suggests Scaranto Delle Venezie Pinot Grigio 2007.
• Warming up the cool fall kitchen with fresh corn fritters.
• Is there such a thing as wine that works for everyone?
• Minneapolis has the largest group of Hmong people in the U.S., but their ethnic food is still underground.
• In metro dining news, Chambers gets a new look and tasty new menu, Loring Kitchen & Bar gives great views of Loring Park, and OM Restaurant dishes up fresh and complex Indian food.
• Weekly restaurant pick: Lyndale Ave's Prima.