Charred Zucchini Salsa Verde served over Cottage Cheese

It’s the end of summer – time for a foodie zucchini festival!

With gardens overflowing with zucchini and several of my neighbors anonymously leaving large summer squashes at my doorstep and then running before I could catch them, I decided to char the zukes on the grill and blend up some salsa verde. Verdict: zucchini and chiles: a match made in heaven!

(Nostalgic Note: I used to eat salsa as a child served over cottage cheese (pictured above). I know,  I know. It sounds weird, but the salty mild cottage cheese pairs perfectly with spicy salsa. Yum! Serve any salsa this way, especially if you have kids!)

Yes, Fab Frugal Food and zucchini go way back. Check out our Zucchini Crudo Salad, Wholegrain Zucchini Cakes, or our Oven Fried Zucchini Crisps.

And, everyone knows in their bones that  zucchini should be on our “must-eat-more-of” lists. They are packed with nutrients and yet are low-calorie and low-carb. And few things are more frugal than zucchini in season. So. What’s not to love?

SUMMER’S BOUNTY CHARRED ZUCCHINI SALSA VERDE

2 medium zucchini ( about 10 inches long), quartered lengthwise
1/2 sweet summer white onion (such as Walla Walla or Vidalia), cut into wedges
3 or 4 tomatillos, paper skin removed and halved
3 large jalapeño peppers, halved with seeds and pulp removed
2 large poblano peppers, halved with seeds and pulp removed
Zest and juice from 1 lime
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce (or more to taste) ( I like Frank’s)
A little honey to taste (optional, as desired)

Lightly spray zucchini, onion, tomatillos and peppers with canola oil. Grill over hot grill until skins begin to char and vegetables are cooked through.

Place all ingredients except honey in a food processor and process until smooth. Taste and add honey as desired.

Serve at room temperature.

Other salsas verdes worth trying:
Salsa Verde, Dianasaur Dishes
Avocado Salsa Verde, Eliza Domestica
Tomatillo Salsa Verde, My Columbian Recipes
Tomatillo Salsa Verde, Eclectic Recipes
Salsa Verde, Foto Cuisine
Canning Salsa Verde, Doris and Jilly Cook
Fire Roasted Salsa Verde, Opera Girl Cooks

And, for other new and exciting zucchini fare:
Grilled Zucchini Greek Salad, Kalyn’s Kitchen
Zucchini with Pine Nuts and Golden Raisins, Perfect Pantry
Zucchini with Feta Salad, Cooking with Amy
Baked Zucchini Fries, Two Peas and their Pod
Zucchini Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms, Herbivoracious
Zucchini Pickles, Andrea’s Recipes
Zucchini Almond Saute, Eat This
Yellow Zucchini Tart, Chocolate and Zucchini

– posted by Donna

Fab Frugal Food Sassy Smoky Salsa featured on Grow Your Own, www.andreasrecipes.com

I recently discovered Andrea’s Recipes,  a great blog that promotes growing your own fruits and veggies. It also promotes bartering, foraging, gleaning and all things frugal when it comes to gathering produce.

Andrea’s blog features great tips and recipes for making use of yours (or your neighbor’s!) home grown produce. If you take just a few minutes and check out her most recent recipe roundup post, she has recipes from food bloggers all over the world. The recipes look amazing, and I am thankful I discovered this blog just in the days that my garden is overflowing! Here are some of the latest from her recipe roundup: Vegetable Tian, Sassy Smoky Salsa (our very own fab frugal food recipe!), Garden Spaghetti, Pear Custard Pie, Tomato Basil Bread and Lemon Verbena Madelines. Wow!

My hat’s off to you, Andrea, and may you blog forever!

– posted by Donna

Each summer I can hardly wait until I start seeing red globes peeking out from between the green leaves of our tomato plants.

There is a fabulous blog celebrating home-grown goodness – Andrea Meyers at Andreas Recipes – she hosts a twice-monthly “Grow Your Own” feature where she highlights recipes from food blogs that feature cooks using ingredients they have grown (or foraged or were gifted) themselves. This salsa post was featured on her blog – check it out to see this and other “GYO” goodness!

There are a million salsa recipes out there, and I have tried my share of them over the last 30 years. Trust me on this – I grew up a few miles from the Mexican border and I have eaten hundreds of salsas. If I am a connoisseur of any one thing, it has to be salsa! This Roasted Tomato Salsa recipe is my absolute all-time favorite!  Roasting about half of the tomatoes quickly at a very high heat give a wonderful roasted smoky flavor, but keeping half of the tomatoes raw gives it the perfect freshness and texture. And, the chipotle chile powder and smoked paprika are delicious in combination with tomatoes.

Don’t skip the EVOO. Olive oil used with tomatoes improves BOTH their flavor and health benefits exponentially.

I love to make gallons (literally) of our family’s favorite salsa and then cruise around the neighborhood like “The Salsa Fairy” handing out pints to friends or leaving them on doorsteps as a surprise treat. Everyone raves about salsa that has roasted tomatoes in the recipe!

You may even be tempted to sit down with a bowl of this with a very large spoon. No, I am NOT kidding.

SASSY SMOKY SALSA

Juice of two limes (about 1/4 cup)
zest of two limes (about 2 teaspoons)
4 cloves garlic
1 large bunch cilantro
About 12 large ripe tomatoes (to make 8 cups smashed)
2 bunches green onions, tops included
1 bell pepper, any color
4 to 6 fresh jalapeños
1 tablespoon each chipotle chile powder and smoked paprika
2 teaspoons salt (or more to taste)
2 tablespoons olive oil
a few dashes Tabasco sauce, to taste

Core and cut tomatoes in half and squeeze out all juice and seeds. Place half of tomatoes cut side down on a baking sheet and spray with a little oil. Broil about 3 inches from heat for about 5 minutes, until tomato skins begin to blacken in spots. Let cool. Drain off liquid from pan and then pulse roasted tomatoes and remaining uncooked tomatoes in food processor until tomatoes are in small chunks. DO NOT PUREE. Place tomato mixture in a large bowl.

Place lime juice, lime zest, garlic and cilantro in food processor and blend until smooth. Remove seeds and pulp from jalapeños and mince. Remove ends and outer skins of green onions and mince. Remove seeds and white pulp from bell pepper and mince. Add chile powder, smoked paprika, salt and olive oil. Stir all ingredients together and let sit on counter for at least one hour for flavors to blend. Taste. If necessary because tomatoes are acidic, add in a little sugar to taste. If salsa is too runny, stir in a can of tomato paste. Cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days. Serve at room temperature. Makes a HUGE batch!!

Variation: To make salsa hotter, add more hot peppers, such as serranos. Also, leaving the seeds in will make the salsa hotter after seeds have had a chance to blend with other flavors.

Some other fabulous roasted tomato salsas:
Fourth of July Roasted Tomato Salsa, 101 Cookbooks.com
Roasted Tomato Salsa, Karina’s Kitchen
Slow Roasted Tomato Salsa, A Veggie Venture

– posted by Donna