Papaya Salsa

What to do with half a papaya and left over BBQ tempeh?

Living by myself, I truly make some weird combos with leftovers. I’ll throw anything over pasta or put it in a wrap. I don’t have anyone’s taste buds to consider so all is fair game. I would be embarrassed to admit most of the combos I make when no one is around, but the one I made the other day can come out of the closet.

The vegetarian platter at La Cena in Downingtown, PA inspired me when looking into the fridge. La Cena is a great restaurant that serves Latin American food. The only problem is that I can eat only one dish and the restaurant is about an hour away in a podunk town. If cruising through Downingtown, La Cena is the place to stop. You can stop at Victory Brewing Company if you must, but don't eat there. Bring the beer to La Cena; it's BYOB.

Their vegetarian platter is a HUGE bowl of rice and beans topped with cheese, lots of lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and plantains. Very simple, but sooo good. I like the “salad” and salsa on top of the rice. I don’t know why I’ve never really eaten a salad on rice elsewhere. Great idea!

I turned the leftover papaya into salsa. I topped a bowl of rice with the leftover BBQ tempeh, lettuce, and the papaya salsa. It was very good. The juice from the salsa and the BBQ sauce flavors the rice. I like to think of my creation as a Caribbean interpretation of La Cena’s vegetarian platter.

Papaya Salsa
enough for one person or two small eaters

2-3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon honey
⅓ cup papaya, diced
1 plum tomato, diced
1 tablespoon sweet onion, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
hot pepper to taste, finely chopped
pinch of salt

• Combine lime juice and honey. Briefly heating this mixture in the microwave for 10-15 seconds will help incorporate the honey.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
  
• Refrigerate until ready to use.

Papaya-Coconut Cupcakes with Ginger-Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Speaking of exotic flavors, I finally got around to making one of the scrumptious sounding and looking cupcakes at Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit, a blog devoted to the cupcake. If you haven’t been to the site, do go. I put it on my blogroll a few months ago.

Her cupcake darlings are creative and inspiring. They're not your standard flavors offered at bakeries. Here’s a sampling of the unusual-for-cupcake flavors: tarragon, basil, fennel, chili, tea, eggnog, persimmon, and lychee.

Some of the cupcakes are complex and amazing. I’m eyeing a cupcake inspired by the Samoas® Girl Scout cookie for an upcoming eating event – my second favorite Girl Scout cookie after Thin Mints.

I’m a sucker for pictures, and her pictures are gorgeous. I know my cupcakes will never look that good due to my chronic impatience and lack of a pastry bag, yet I still am not afraid to dive in and try to recreate the beauty.

The cupcakes all look good, but I decided to try the papaya-coconut cupcakes with ginger-lime cream cheese frosting.

I had everything already in the kitchen, expect for a papaya. The recipe calls for six ounces of papaya, but I don’t have a scale. I just threw some in; I’m not sure how much.

I substituted reduced-fat coconut milk and reduced-fat cream cheese because it was on hand. I would not recommend reduced-fat cream cheese if you were taking these to an event, only because the resulting icing is softer. If it’s warm outside, the icing could be a melting mess.

The result was very good. The cake was more like a fruit quick bread. The icing was my favorite part – tangy lime with spicy ginger. I put the full tablespoon of ginger in, but for my taste I could have put more in.

If only I had the time and metabolism to make and eat every one of her cupcakes!