Coastal Cooking Online

This is my first-ever blog… let’s see how it goes! The central coast of California has unique wines, foods and a lifestyle that lends itself to playing around with fresh ingredients in new ways, so if you’re a serious (or semi-serious) foodie, it can be heaven. I like to play with my food; I’ve been cooking for three decades now. Nearly every day I try to whip up something inventive in the kitchen.

Enough about me, though, let’s move on to food and wine! I’ve discovered some fantastic ways of using our local wines that break the rules–like “Punched Up Pineapple Salsa” made with Cayucos Cellars 2001 Zinfandel, which is unbelievably tasty on fish tacos. You can’t serve fish with red wine? Oh, yes you can! And the recipe is incredibly simple:

Soak those first ingredients in a covered glass bowl or jar in your refrigerator overnight or for 24 hours. After soaking, add the following:

Soak for an additional 8-24 hours. Spoon soaked mixture into a large mixing bowl. To this mixture, add:

Combine well, cover and store at room temperature while you prepare jars for canning. This is quite simple, actually (yes, it is!). Boil a few large pots of water on the stove. Dip clean jars and lids into boiling water using tongs, remove, set on clean towels or paper towels to drain. Spoon the salsa into the jars, seal tightly and return the well-sealed jars to boiling water (again using tongs). Boil for no more than five minutes, remove jars from boiling water and place hot jars on cooling rack to reach room temperature. You’ll have eight one cup jars of very tasty salsa to serve within one month. Refrigerate jars after opening, and eat within a week of opening for best flavor.

Watch for more recipes using California’s central coast wines, which I’ll post as often as possible. May I suggest cranking up the stereo to dance in the kitchen while you cook? It’s a favorite pastime of my own, and a side benefit is it has my sons (ages 20 and 15) rolling their eyes and shaking their heads regularly.

Happy Cooking!