I have to admit, as much as I’m looking forward to Autumn (seriously--can’t wait!), this salsa could make me wish that Summer would stick around just a bit longer.  And we’re in the beginning of a week long heat wave, so that’s saying something!   This Watermelon Nectarine Salsa with Baked Tortilla Chips could make me forget about the cooler weather--for about a week or two, at least.

I got a link to a similar version of this salsa in an email from McCormick.  Right away, I knew I had to make it.   I changed it up somewhat to reflect what I had on hand, and what was fresh at the moment.  Peaches?  Love them, but they’re fuzzy, and I had no intention of peeling peaches if I didn’t have to.  Nectarines are fuzz free.  Also?  I wasn’t completely sold on mint, red onion, and thyme.  They weren’t speaking to me.  No worries!  Jal A. Peno, Basil Green, and Zest E. Lime were talking to me that day!

The chips are super easy.  Dusted with cinnamon sugar and baked to a crispy goodness--these would be good with so many things.  Even by themselves, they’re a great snack.  Billy, who was doing the sous chef thing for me, took a couple stacks of chips and decided to fry them.  Now, I’m not saying that the baked ones aren’t the best thing since fried chips?  But the fried ones?  Oh.  Just--oh.  Fried, drained on brown paper, and lightly dusted with tangy lime salt--bring ‘em on, baby!  Plus, if your oil is hot enough, whatever you’re frying will sear on the outside, preventing too much oil from seeping into the food.  That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it, ok?  We also tried this on regular old corn chips, and it was still fabulous that way, so if you don’t feel like making the chips, don’t sweat it.

Fry us, we like it!

Whoa, we're totally baked!   

The salsa itself isn’t too sweet, but that depends on how ripe your fruit is.  So taste when it’s all mixed and flavors have melded, and adjust if you need to with lime juice or a touch of sugar, agave or even honey.  I find that the sugar on the chips is the perfect balance, so I don’t want my salsa any sweeter than it is.

Watermelon Nectarine Salsa with Homemade Chips-Two Ways

makes about 6 cups

3 cups watermelon, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 cups nectarine, cut into 1 inch cubes
6 tbsp orange juice (I used fresh, but store bought is fine)
1/2 jalapeno, finely diced (seeds and ribs removed for less heat)
3 tbsp fresh basil, cut into a Chiffonade (thin ribbons)
1 tsp fresh lime zest
pinch of salt

Add all ingredients to a medium sized bowl. 
Gently stir to combine, then set aside in the fridge for a half hour to an hour to let the flavors mingle.
Serve cold with your favorite chips.  Store any leftover salsa in the fridge, and chips in an airtight container.

Homemade Tortilla Chips, Two Ways

12 (8 inch) flour tortillas
4 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl-set aside.
Stack a few tortillas at a time and cut into wedges.  A pizza cutter works great for this!
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Lay the tortilla wedges out in single layers on each pan.
Spray the wedges lightly with oil, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until firm to the touch and all traces of the oil are gone.
Remove from pan and cool completely on cooling racks.

If you prefer, you can heat up some oil, and fry the chips that way.  An inch or so of oil, good and hot, and drop the chips in.  Fry until golden brown, remove and drain on brown paper, then sprinkle with salt or cinnamon sugar.

• This is a wonderful and versatile way to make good use of the abundance of late summer fruits.  So fresh!
• Makes a nice change of pace on a summer party table, and especially good for Labor Day cookouts that are coming this weekend!
• As much as I love tomato salsa, I find that the raw onion can really bug me later, so the absence of onion in this one may be just what you or your guests are looking for!
• I’m wondering if just a touch of cinnamon would be good in this.  If any of you decide to try that, please let me know how it turns out!
• Oh!  I just realized this would be nice with grilled chicken or pork, too!

Photo by Gudlyf

Who doesn’t love figs?  I know we do.  LOVE.  If, like me, your only exposure to figs while growing up was in Fig Newtons, then you need to get yourself some fresh figs, STAT.  Not that there’s anything wrong with Fig Newtons--I still love those cookies to this day.  Fresh figs are completely different.  Slightly sweet, so fresh tasting--like summer!  I say get some STAT,  because the fresh fig season is so short, sadly.  Seems they appear in the markets as quickly as they disappear.  You need to jump on them when you see them, or you may not get any.

So when Cristina from the California Fig Advisory Board contacted me about trying some fresh figs*, I nearly jumped through my laptop--all the way to California--to say “Yes, please!”  

Fig Ice Cream

I was expecting maybe a pound or two?  No.  It was so funny when I opened the door.  There were two giant boxes waiting for me.  They were both filled almost to the brim with figs!  There were five flats of fresh figs that had 36 in each--and all different varieties.  Plus--two bags full of dried figs, that were each weighing in at four pounds!  I didn’t get any photos of them because honestly, it was incredibly hot the day they arrived, and my first priority was to get the flats broken down and the delicate figs stored somewhere cool.  My friend Kathy at A Good Appetite got some beautiful photos of what exactly was included, and I’m sure you’ll want to see them.  Figs are just gorgeous, inside and out!

So let’s add that up, ok?  Five flats of 36 each--that’s 15 dozen fresh figs!  And 4 pounds of dried figs!  We’re in fig heaven, I’m telling you.  What have we done with them?  Well, besides eating a ton of them as they are, I made a fig jam and fig ice cream.  There were so many of them, and they’re pretty fragile, so we ended up freezing some of them for winter use.  I’ll be looking forward to that!

The Fig Ice Cream can be found at Vanilla Garlic.  It’s creamy, figgy and wonderful!  Also--easy, but it can be time consuming when it comes to cooking the figs down.

Fig Jam 

The Fig Jam--well, I just read a few recipes and winged it.  The result is a thick, chunky fig jam that is delicious anywhere you’d use any other jam.  It would also be amazing with a nice aged cheese, which I’m all out of!  Damn.

Fig Jam
makes about 2 cups

14-15 fresh figs
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
small splash of lime juice

Rinse the figs and quarter them.  Add them to a medium saucepan with only the water left on them from rinsing.
Cook them down over medium heat, and kind of smush them with a wooden spoon to help them along.  Cook them down for 15-20 minutes.
Stir in the sugar, increase heat a bit, and let the figs cook more.  Stir occasionally.
It'll be hot, so be careful!  (A splatter screen comes in very handy here.)
Cook the figs and sugar until it's thickened and almost burnt smelling, as if you were caramelizing sugar.Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and lime juice.
Let cool, and then store in an airtight container in the fridge.

I also used some figs in my Summer Harvest Salad.  They’re a great addition to your summer salads!

Summer Harvest Salad

The California Fig Advisory Board has also generously offered to give one of you the SAME PACKAGE I received.  (Remember, you can see photos of the entire thing at A Good Appetite.)  This one is open to US residents only because of shipping.

One winner will receive the same five flats of fresh figs, and two bags of dried figs.  That’s a lot of figgy goodness!   Two huge boxes worth!

Because the shipping season for figs is so short, this has to be a quickie giveaway.  The winner will be randomly chosen on Saturday, August 28th.

1.  Just leave a comment here telling me what you’d like to make with figs.

2.  You can retweet this twice a day on Twitter, if you like, and get an additional comment entry with each tweet.  Please leave the timestamp of your tweets in your comment. Retweet this tweet:

It’s a Fig-a-palooza! HUGE fig prize package! Visit @elleskitchen for more details. http://tinyurl.com/33kvppr

Be sure to leave a valid email where you can be reached!

That’s it!  Easy, right?  Good luck! 

AND THE WINNER IS...

Number 12 is...SMITH BITES

Congratulations to our winner, and thank you to everyone for entering! 

*The California Fig Advisory Board generously gave me the fresh and dried figs to try, as well as the same package to give away to one of my readers.  I was not compensated to write this article and give my opinions.