Blueberry-Fennel Salsa

Tis the season to eat salsa! And oh, how numerous are the possibilities. I’ve always been one for experimenting with new flavor combinations so when I looked in the fridge and saw some blueberries fresh from the Union Square Greenmarket, along with some jalapeños and cilantro, I immediately thought blueberry salsa.

Now, I’m quite familiar with fruit salsas  – your standard pineapple one, for example, is pretty ubiquitous. But I couldn’t remember a time when I’d eaten a version made with blueberries. I also wasn’t 100 percent sure it would be a success. But I was fairly certain that one ingredient might be the key to marrying the sweet, fruitiness of blueberries to the savory spicy notes all good salsas should have, and that ingredient (drumroll please) was fennel. Specifically sautéed fennel, which has an onion-like texture and a lovely deep flavor.

So off to the market I went, eager to test out my theory. I thinly sliced my freshly-purchased fennel, sautéed it in some olive oil for 10 minutes or so (stirring frequently to promote caramelization as opposed to frying) and pulsed it up in a food processor with some jalapeño and cilantro. After seasoning with salt and lime, I sampled a bit. Yum! I almost wanted to eat it then and there – blueberries be damned – because it was really tasty! But delayed gratification is supposedly the mark of intelligence, so in went the berries. And voila! Blueberry-fennel salsa complete; snacking commencing in T minus…and that’s as far as my countdown got before my mouth was full of chips and salsa.

A couple notes about the recipe:

-Taste your jalapeño to determine whether you want to leave in seeds/veins or remove completely. They vary in spice considerably.

-This recipe yields 3/4 cup of salsa. If Low FODMAP, stick to 1/4 cup per sitting.

Blueberry-Fennel Salsa

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 ½ cups thinly sliced fennel bulb
• 1 jalapeño, washed and trimmed (taste and decide whether to leave in seeds/veins)
• ½ cup firmly-packed cilantro
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• A few pinches of salt, to taste
• ¼ cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the fennel and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft and starting to brown.

Pulse the jalapeño in a food processor until finely chopped. Pulse in the cooked fennel, then the cilantro. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the lime juice, salt, and blueberries.

Enjoy!