Try this salsa, it’s a recipe contest winner

I love recipe contests. The hundreds, sometimes thousands of submissions prove there are still lots of people out there who enjoy being creative in the kitchen.

Today we feature the salsa recipe of Carol Knox of Pacific Grove, Calif., who took top prize in a recent contest sponsored by Ocean Mist Farms.

When you hear the word “salsa” you naturally think of a spicy mixture of chopped fresh tomatoes, onion and cilantro. Carol Knox’s salsa is more colorful and crunchy with its corn and diced artichoke hearts. Use it as a dip for artichoke leaves or chips, add to a quiche, top an omelet, fill burritos or wraps, garnish fish or chicken, or sauté and toss with pasta and parmigiano.

Artichoke and Corn Salsa

6 freshly cooked Ocean Mist Farms artichoke hearts, diced*

1 ear corn

1/2 cup diced roasted red bell pepper

1 small onion, diced

1/2 cup diced peeled jicama

3 serrano chiles, seeded and minced

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

3 limes, juiced

Salt and pepper to taste

Remove husk and silk from corn and cook in unsalted boiling water 3 minutes. Cool; slice off kernels. Combine corn with diced artichoke hearts (instructions follow), roasted pepper, onion, jicama, chiles, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Cover and chill several hours to blend flavors.

*To Prepare Artichokes for Hearts: Rinse 6 medium-large artichokes. Cut off base of stem and top third of leaves. Trim tips of leaves with scissors or kitchen shears. Steam artichokes on rack in large pot over boiling water until petal near center pulls out easily, about 35 minutes (depending on size). OR boil artichokes in large pot in water to almost cover, along with a sliced lemon and clove or two of garlic until petal near center pulls out easily, about 35 minutes. Carefully lift artichokes out of pot and turn upside down to drain well; cool. Push thumbs into center of artichokes and push leaves back. With spoon scrape out fuzzy center.

Pull off leaves to use as dippers and cut heart into bite-size pieces or dice for salsa.

New Product News

•Aware that nearly 80 percent of families are using flavors of the Southwest in their cooking, Campbell Soup Co. is bringing out three new condensed soups that will be available nationwide beginning in September: Creamy Chicken Verde, Creamy Ranchero Tomato and Southwest Style Pepper Jack.

•Diluted with a can of water or milk, they can be eaten as soup or used as an ingredient in entrees. Suggestions will be on labels and can also be found at www.campbellskitchen.com.

•Also, Campbell currently has a limited edition of a new label for its tomato soup featuring Andy Warhol’s photo, his autograph and a short piece on him and his art.

•Smucker’s has introduced an all-natural peanut butter.

•Look for Cajun and Fiesta varieties added to Lipton’s line of “Sides” mixes, joining the already placed Asian Sides.

•Perhaps the most welcome product news is announcement of Hormel Foods oven-ready frozen turkey, offered in its Jennie-O Turkey Store line. In a special baking bag, it goes right from the freezer into a conventional oven. There’s no handling, no 3-to-4-day thawing wait, no uncertainty of whether it’s really thoroughly thawed and no digging into the cavity for giblets (or forgetting to).

We’ll have more to tell you later.