I used to think that I didn't like fruit salsas. But, this recipe* is the second fruit salsa I've made from The Book, and they were both better than I thought they'd be. (The other one I've made is the Strawberry Salsa that I made last summer.)The recipe's instructions are deceptively easy. "Stir together all ingredients in a large bowl." That's it. But, that's not really all there is to it. You have to peel, seed and dice two pounds of papayas (be careful, they're slippery!), and you have to peel, core, and cut a pineapple.
The Book calls for a scallion and a half of a garlic clove. I'm generally suspicious about recipes that call for raw garlic, it can tend to overwhelm the dish. That's why I decided to try to substitute chopped garlic scapes for both the garlic and the scallion. The flavor is similar to, but milder than, garlic and onions. But it was not a success. The flavor was very bland. So, I tried to salvage it by adding a little bit of minced garlic and some chopped white onion. That seemed to do the trick, but something was still missing. What this salsa really needs is some heat to offset the sweetness of the fruit. If I were to make this again, I'd add a minced serrano chile, or at least a jalepeno to, as Emeril would say, "kick it up a notch."
I served it with tortilla chips, but as The Book suggests, I'm sure it would also be good as an accompaniment to grilled pork or swordfish.
Date Cooked: July 5, 2009
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: B
* The recipe on epicurious.com is the same as the one in The Book, except that The Book's recipe has twice the papaya.
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