Celebrate National Salsa Month with Salsa-
Baked Cheese. Photo courtesy
FronteraFiesta.com.

This is salsa’s answer to baked Brie: fresh goat cheese or cream cheese topped with a flavorful salsa and baked until warm. It’s from Chef Rick Bayless of FronteraFiesta.com.

Serve Salsa-Baked Cheese with Dirty Martinis, Margaritas or beer.

RECIPE: SALSA-BAKED CHEESE

Ingredients

– ¼ cup pine nuts or coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
– 8 ounces soft cream cheese or goat cheese or a combination
– 1 jar (16 ounces) of interesting salsa (suggestions:
Frontera Mango Key Lime, Roasted Tomato or Spanish Olive Salsa)
– Chopped fresh cilantro
– Crackers and/or sliced, toasted baguette

1. Toast nuts in a 350°F oven until fragrant, 7 or 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Stir in cheese. Shape into a disc and lay in an ovenproof baking dish.

3. Pour salsa over cheese and bake until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with crackers or toasted bread.

Find reviews of our favorite salsas, more recipes and our Salsa Glossary.

If you win this week’s Gourmet Giveaway, you’ll be able to choose from a wide variety of chef-inspired recipes, including Tortilla Crusted Tilapia, Tuscan Parmesan Crusted Shrimp and Roasted Garlic & Herb Scallops.

Sea Cuisine specializes in restaurant-quality frozen dinners, finished in flavorful crusts or delicate sauces. Regardless of which ones you choose, you can be assured of a dish made with the finest ingredients.

• THE PRIZE: Two winners will each receive coupons for five free Sea Cuisine entrées. Enjoy “seafood night” with your family and friends, or keep them in the freezer for those nights when you’re too tired to cook, yet what something yummy and high in protein. Approximate retail value: $35.00 each.
• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Seafood Section and enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, May 17th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!
• To learn more about Sea Cuisine, download $1 off coupons and check out Sea Cuisine’s sweepstakes, visit SeaCuisine.com.

Yum: White Wine & Herb Shrimp. Enjoy
these and other choices as the winner—or go
for the $1 coupon. Photo courtesy Sea Cuisine.

A new way to enjoy guacamole! Photo
courtesy FronteraFiesta.com.

Turn that guac into something special with this recipe from Top Chef Masters winner Rick Bayless, owner of Chicago’s Frontera Grill and Topolobampo restaurants.

RECIPE: CHERRY TOMATOES WITH
PUMPKIN SEED GUACAMOLE

Ingredients
– 30-40 large cherry tomatoes
– 3-4 avocados
– ½ cup Frontera Guacamole Mix (or make your own
guacamole recipe)
– ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
– Salt to taste
– ½ cup pepitas (toasted pumpkin seeds) and/or
crumbled cooked bacon

Find more of our favorite hors d’oeuvre recipes and an hors d’oeuvre estimator: how many pieces do you need per guest.

It means that everything needed to prepare and serve a recipe—the prepped ingredients, utensils, pots, pans and plates—is gathered and ready to use before the cooking begins.

This allows the cook to work in a state of constant readiness. There’s no need to stop to get tools, to slice and dice, to find the lid to the pot, etc. It makes cooking a very calm experience.

Use mise en place the next time you follow a recipe.

• To get you started, here’s a lovely spring recipe: Lamb Loin with Blood Orange Sauce and White Bean Purée.

Using mise en place makes cooking this (or
any) recipe a snap. Photo courtesy of Meat
and Livestock Australia.

Photo by Bluestocking | IST.

Salsa is the Spanish word for a sauce of finely chopped vegetables, that dates back to the ancient Aztecs. Red salsas are tomato-based, green salsas are tomatillo-based and there are dozens of different types of both.

Fruit salsas, such as cherry, mango, peach and pineapple, are a modern invention, enjoyable with grilled meats and breakfast eggs.

• See the many different types of salsa in our Salsa Glossary.
• Learn the history of salsa, which was first taken from a homemade Mexican-American product to a bottled grocery store product by Texan Dave Pace, in 1947.
• Salsa goes global: Check out spins on salsa, including Indian and Southeast Asian recipe ideas.
• Two recipes for cooking with salsa: Manicotti and Pork Tacos.