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Happy Cinco de Mayo! Time to dig into this fruity salsa

Recipe: Fresh strawberry-orange salsa with green onions

Fresh strawberries combine with oranges and chilies for a fruity spring salsa

Fresh strawberries combine with oranges and chilies for a fruity spring salsa Debbie Arrington

What would Cinco de Mayo be without salsa? A lot less flavorful.

But this Mexican-inspired celebration falls in early May – long before fresh tomatoes are ripe in Northern California. Instead of basic tomato-based salsa, try this fruity alternative using two spring favorites: Strawberries and oranges.

Combined with fresh green onions (another spring favorite), the berries and citrus add a hint of sweetness along with a juicy crunch.

Versatile as well as colorful, this fruity salsa pairs well with pork, chicken, shrimp or cheese enchiladas, tacos or quesadillas. Also use it to top grilled pork chops or pork tenderloin or dress up a chicken breast.

Or just grab some tortilla chips and dig in.

Strawberry-orange salsa

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients:

1 orange

½ cup fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped

Salsa ingredients including strawberries and half an orange
Fruit and green onions flavor the spring salsa.

3 tablespoons green onions, chopped

1 tablespoon mild green chilies, diced

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon red chile flakes

½ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon garlic salt

Instructions:

Cut the orange in half. Peel and chop one half of the orange; reserve the other half.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped orange, strawberries, green onions, chilies and cilantro. Lightly toss.

Into a small bowl, squeeze juice of remaining orange half. To orange juice, add rice vinegar, olive oil, chile flakes, sugar and garlic salt; mix. Add to the fruit-onion mixture. Lightly toss.

Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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