When Jacky chose cherries as the BSI ingredient this week, a quick look through my archives during the past 2 1/2 years of My Bizzy Kitchen – I had not one recipe using cherries!

I have Tony to thank for my first cherry recipe – he suggested I make a cherry salsa.  OMG, I love this salsa – although next time I will reduce the amount of jalapeno so the cherries shine a bit more, but I literally could not stop dipping chips into this salsa.

Grilled Cherry Salsa – 4 servings – 1 point per serving

  • 4 tomatoes, divided
  • 1 jalapeno pepper
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup cherries
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
  • juice of one lime
  • zest from one lime
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt

I did this on my gas grill.  Just char three tomatoes, the garlic, jalapeno and cherries – it took me about 15 minutes at a temperature around 350.

Let the cherries cool, then pit the cherries and add all the ingredients to a food processer and puree.

The cherries actually started to carmelize on the grill. šŸ˜€

I can’t wait to make this again using a little less heat, even though I did remove the seeds – and I’ll probably add even more cherries next time. šŸ˜€

But wait, there’s more!   Tony had another idea for cherries in case we couldn’t find fresh cherries.  Have you ever tried dried sour cherries before?  They aren’t as sour as I thought they would be.  I scored on some really thick bone-in pork chops at the store, so I made a sour cherry port wine sauce to go over the top.

Sour Cherry Port Wine Sauce

  • 4 servings – 4 PointsPlus per serving (a generous 2 tablespoons)

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup dried sour cherries, chopped
  • 1/2 cup port wine
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • pinch of salt

Cook the port wine and dried cherries over medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, except butter, and stir until thickened – about 5 minutes.  Using a stick blender, puree.  Remove from heat and add butter and stir until melted.  Serve over grilled pork chops.

I’ve never cooked with port wine before – this bottle was only $5! šŸ˜€

Normally Tony doesn’t like fruit with meat, but he loved this – and I did too.  It had a nice savory balance, not overly sweet and as I was eating it, I thought that just a touch of chipotle peppers would be a nice addition to kick it up a notch. šŸ˜€

Thanks for hosting BSI this week Jacky.  Check out Jacky’s submission – dark chocolate cherry saffron scones – they look amazing!

Hope everyone is having a nice Mother’s Day – Tony made me spicy eggs and fruit for breakfast – Hannah got me a new saute pan, a couple workout shirts, a magnetic grocery list, some paring knives for my new office, and some cool pens – I told her she couldn’t spend more than $20 bucks and I think she did great!

Enjoy your Sunday!  Hannah and I are planning to take a walk, then head to my Mom’s house for dinner – her kitchen just got overhauled and this is the first dinner in the new kitchen. šŸ˜€