condiment city: strawberry salsa & burgers with simple guacamole

Summer seems to be the perfect time to endulge in a little condiment action. With all those picnics and bbqs it seems that mustards, ketchups, salsas and relishes abound. A squirt here and a plop there. Once tomato season rears it's head, I plan on trying my hand at a tomato ketchup and I'm definitely interested in trying out the deliciously simple english brown mustard posted at bread & honey.


Last week I grilled up some hamburgers for dinner and instead of slapping on some cheese or mayonnaise, I whipped up a super simple guacamole for our burgers. Just a mashed avocado, a generous squeeze of lime juice, chili powder, hot sauce and a bit of chipotle powder. Yum! Fresh delicious and way better than the $16 hamburgers we ate recently at a local restaurant.

For burgers, I like them simple. Not a lot of complex flavours or anything that is highly seasoned as I like to taste the meat. For the burgers, I just added some salt, pepper and dash of Worcestershire sauce. Using a spoon to mix about the meat (you don't want to over mix), I then quickly formed them into patties and grilled them on the bbq. After toasting the buns, I added a big smear of the guacamole, along with diced onions, a tomato slice, and some mustard. It was burger perfection!


This past weekend, I went strawberry picking at a local u-pick farm. While the farm we went to wasn't organic, they do use controlled pest management and only spray as a last resort. The berries were amazing and I managed to pick just over 17 pounds worth. When I got home with my haul, I wanted to make something immediately but didn't want to have to turn on the oven since it was so hot outside. So I tried my hand at a strawberry salsa to top some cod that I would be barbecuing later on. I had some leftover slices of tomatoes and diced onions from the burgers the night before, so I added that into the salsa. It was pretty simple to whip up and it had that refreshing mix of sweet and hot flavours that I love. It was super fresh and the berries were super red and colourful.


strawberry salsa
1 c diced strawberries
1/2 diced tomato
1/2 diced red onion
1 finely diced jalapeno
juice & zest of 1 lime
a handful of fresh chives, chopped
a handful of fresh parsley & cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Toss lightly and serve over fish or chicken.