Salsa

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from Justin Rashid of American Spoon Foods in Petoskey, Michigan. To read more about Rashid and the northwestern Michigan cherry harvest, click here. "This is a fresh, colorful salsa that I make at home — a nice alternative to cooked versions like the cherry-peach that we sell at American Spoon Foods," says Rashid. "Feel free to substitute sweet cherries such as Bings — you'll just need to reduce the sugar to 2 tablespoons."

We like to serve this fresh salsa with grilled fish, chicken, or pork, or as a dip for tortilla chips.

Joan and David Oswalt of Pasadena, California, write: "David and I both love to cook, but our approaches couldn't be more different. He'll start from scratch and spend months perfecting a particular dish, while I prefer to take a basic recipe and just add my own touches." Serve the salsa with the Baked Ribs with Spicy Blackberry Sauce, or with sautéed shrimp or scallops.

This "salsa" is actually a sort of fruit salad, but it does contain the quintessential salsa ingredients, lime juice and jalapeño peppers. The jalapeños are certainly unexpected, but they have an interesting way of intensifying the sweetness of the pineapple.

A salsa this simple lives or dies by the quality of the ingredients—ripe avocado, luscious tomato, and a sweet, crunchy ear of corn. Most of my corn salsa recipes call for grilled corn. This one features the succulent crunch of raw corn to reinforce the sweetness of the fresh avocado.

This lively salsa is typically served with Argentine asado—beef, pork, or lamb cooked over an open fire or grill. It's also wonderful with a seared skirt steak.

Spoon this sprightly condiment over grilled fish, alongside roasted ham, or, for an appetizer, atop slices of smoked salmon on buttered pumpernickel.

A spicy Thai take on a classic party dish.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe was created to accompany Smoked Whitefish Cakes with Cucumber Salsa. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A break from the standard salsa. This versatile condiment is good on crusty bread as an appetizer, and adds zip to flank steak or skirt steak for an entrée.

The fresh flavors and crisp textures in this salsa complement the tender sea bass.

This salsa from Jane Butel's cooking school in Albuquerque, New Mexico is great with fajitas or as a dip for chips.

This salsa is best made a few hours ahead so the flavors have a chance to develop.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 25 min

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Halibut steaks and pork tenderloin are two of our favorites with this fiery side.