Every week, your challenge is to create an eye-opening dish within our capricious themes and parameters. Blog your submission on Open Salon by Monday 10 a.m. EST -- with photos and your story behind the dish -- and we'll republish the winners on Salon on Tuesday. (It takes only 30 seconds to start a blog.) Please note that by participating, you're giving Salon permission to re-post your entry if it's chosen as a winner, and acknowledging that all words and images in your post are your own, unless explicitly stated. And yes, mashed potato sculpture counts as a dish. Emphatically. This week, we asked for your finest fruit recipes.
THIS WEEK'S WINNER:
Perfect Fruit Tarts by Felicia Lee: Some of us dream of flying and some of failing, but Felicia dreams anxiously of awful, gummy, soggy fruit tarts. Perhaps motivated by her subconscious, she enrolled in pastry school and came out with this guide to help us always have crisp crusts, rich cream and glorious toppings.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY WINNERS:
In the Chutney category:
Scrambled Eggs with Trinidadian Mango Chutney by Linda Shiue: Linda comes in this week with a fascinating look into the history of chutney, from its Indian origins, British variations, and its spread as a food, musical form, and metaphor to the islands of the West Indies. Her recipe combines the hot, spicy and sour flavors of a traditional mango version with the comforting savoriness of eggs.
In the Salad category:
Green Mango Salad by Juliet Waters: OK, so this post isn't really about green mango salad, or even very much about green mangoes at all. It's about finding the perfect mango, one available through the vagaries of chance, Formula 1 races, and knowing a fruit insider with, possibly, mob connections. (Really.) But, in case you aren't up for that kind of adventure, here's also a recipe for a wonderful, savory way to eat less-than-perfect mangoes, the green, sour, toothsome, unripe ones, in fact.
In the Frozen Treats category:
Coconut and Piña Colada Popsicles by Nicki Woodard: Nicki has the parent diary that involves delightful moments in public: "The 3 year old screams the entire time we are in the store and takes her clothes off in the middle of the Martha Stewart Crafting/vacuum section." Happily, these popsicle recipes are good enough to calm the children down -- or at least give them something to keep their mouths busy for a while.
In the Condiment category:
Peach Salsa by Lisa Kuebler: Walking around the market, being inspired by ingredients should never be the pleasure only of chefs and their P.R. people, and here home cook Lisa wanders by her Georgia peaches and gets to thinking about tacos. I suggest the same for you too.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Fusun Atalay shares with us pretty much everything you've ever wanted to know about cranberries and their effects on health, and a few ways to eat enough of them to possibly make you live forever. (Recipes for Cranberry Brie Cups, Cranberry Spinach Salad, and Cranberry Apple Coffee Cake included.)
What if we all ate locally? It always sounds so nice at first, until, like Lucy Mercer in Georgia, you realize you'd never have cherries again. Aghast at the thought, she shares two of her favorite ways to pack cherries into breakfast and dessert. (Recipes for Chilled Cherry Soup and Cherry Foccacia included.)
Sheba Marx took a walk in the woods and came upon some wild raspberries. When that kind of luck happens upon you, a recipe would seem churlish -- you pluck them and eat them. But Sheba's raspberries weren't quite ripe, so she left them but came home with this pair of gorgeous photos.
Though she says she doesn't give a recipe for watermelon and feta cheese, Stellaa already has -- you eat the two together, the melon ice cold, in the middle of a summer night; one of her gorgeous summer fruit memories.
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AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE:
Recently, our brilliant culinary historian and cookbook author friend Jessica Harris released her latest baby, "Rum Drinks," a wonderful collection of rum-based cocktail recipes that also tells the story of how that liquor shaped the history and cultures of the Caribbean. With Caribbean-like temperatures engulfing the country these days, what better time for us to celebrate the glories of rum ourselves?
So this week, share with us your best rum recipes -- punches, cocktails, Tiki classics like Mai Tais and Zombies, or even rum-based dishes. Dr. Harris herself will help guest-judge, and winners will get a free copy of her book!
Be sure to tag your posts: SKC Rum Drinks (Please note that by participating, you're giving Salon permission to re-post your entry if it's chosen as a winner, and acknowledging that all words and images in your post are your own, unless explicitly stated. Adaptations of existing recipes are fine, but please let us know where the original comes from. And if you'd like to participate but not have your post considered for republication on Salon, please note it in the post itself. Thanks!)
Scoring and winning
Scores will be very scientific, given for appealing photos, interesting stories behind your submissions, creativity, execution and whatever the good doctor thinks.
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