Wow! It’s been sooooo very long since I have done one of these posts. I think this is worth the wait though. Ever since I found the recipe in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Light & Easy, the Black and Blue Salsa, as I have come to call it, has been on high rotation in my kitchen! And it’s a perfect meal for a Halloween dinner, given it’s dark and spooky colour!
You can see it top of the photo here as part of the salmon burrito bowl (except it was on a plate) that i had for dinner the other night. The main ingredients of the salsa are black beans and blueberries hence the black and blue name.
If this combination appears strange to you, don’t worry it did to me as well. But trust me, it works! It also looks quite lovely on a plate because the dark colours contrast nicely with against greens, chicken, fish etc. Hugh describes it as “dark and devillishly well flavoured, ,this is hot sharp, sweet and smoky all at the same time” He’s right, it is also totally delicious and highly addictive as well as being jam-packed with healthful ingredients!
I like this with some coriander added. The original recipe does not have it.
Black and Blue Salsa
A delicious and healthy salsa, perfect with chicken, fish or any grilled meat
Ingredients
- For The Salsa
- 400g can of black beans, rinsed and drained
- 200g blueberries
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 2 medium hot red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
- Handful of coriander leaves, chopped
For The Dressing
- 1 garlic clove, smashed
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
For The Dressing
- Combine the garlic, lime juice, paprika, sugar, cider vinegar and oil in a jar. Shake well to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let sit for around half an hour to let the flavours develop.
For the Salsa
- Combine the blackbeans, blue berries, onion an chilli in a bowl
- Strain the dressing to remove the garlic and pour over.
- Mix well.
- If possible, let stand for half an hour before serving.
- Just before serving sprinkle the chopped coriander over the top.
- Enoy!
Notes
- You can also add diced avocado into this. I left it out this time because I already had avocado on my plate.
Elsewhere in life….
Watching
I am mid way through S2 of Narcos and thoroughly enjoying it. Ditto Stranger Things
Reading
My current read is Truly, Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty. I loved one of her previous books, Big Little Lies but I am struggling with this one.
Tasty Reads
The October Choice was Preserving. I chose The Modern Preserver by Kylee Newton. I loved this book and it is likely to be my Tasty Reads book of the year. I have made so many things from it and every one of them has been great!
The only book likely to beat it from top position at the end of the year is the November / December choice – Free Choice. On the back of some very high review praise, I have chosen Stirring Slowly by Georgina Hayden.
Described as a “new modern classic” by none other than Jamie Oliver, I am looking forward to picking this up and getting stuck in!
Podcasts
Seeing as my favorites Tanis and The Black Tapes are both on between season hiatus, I have started listening to My Favorite Murder. It’s a comedy true crime podcast and I love it. I think the two hosts are brilliant and I am so glad I still have 30+ episodes to go before I am caught up!
http://www.feralaudio.com/show/my-favorite-murder/
Other
OMG. I have started running. Well, I have started staggering around the back streets and local track in a facsimile of running. But it’s a start. I am doing the Couch to 5k program and am midway through week 4.
My aim is to be able to do a full 5k by Christmas. We’ll see. It really starts to ramp up after this week, I am a little nervous. And the thing is, I totally hate doing it when I am doing it. My chest aches, my legs ache, I am slow and ungainly and huff and puff like a pack a day smoker. But everytime I do it, I get a little bit better. And that feels marvellous!
This week I am looking forward to cooking the Cherry Flapjack Granola from Stirring Slowly and a Tom Yum soup from another Tasty Reads favourite, Adam Liaw’s Big Pot.
What are you reading / watching / listening to?
What are you looking forward to cooking?
Have a Happy Hallloween, a fab week and to borrow a catch phrase from my new favorite podcast, “Stay sexy; don’t get murdered”
