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1 tablespoon mustard oil

2 cups chopped pitted nectarines

½ cup minced, cored, seeded bell pepper

1 tablespoon chopped oregano leaves

Red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons almond oil

2 cups chopped, peeled, and cored pineapple

½ cup minced seeded tart green apple

1 tablespoon stemmed thyme

Bottled hot red pepper sauce

2 teaspoons walnut oil

2 cups chopped strawberries

½ cup diced seeded cucumber

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups chopped peeled pitted mango

½ cup peeled and diced jicama

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Chopped seeded watermelon, honeydew, or cantaloupe

To season: Salt just before serving the salsa. Start with ½ teaspoon salt and taste. If you salt it ahead of time, the fruit and vegetables will weep and the salsa will turn watery in storage.

To store: Place in a nonreactive bowl, cover, and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Our Favorite Combinations

Traditional Salsa: Tomatoes, red onion, oregano, jalapeño, and canola oil

Pineapple Salsa: Pineapple, red onion, thyme, mint, and serrano

Peach Salsa: Peaches, shallot, thyme, allspice, hot red pepper sauce, and almond oil

Tomatillo Salsa: Tomatillos, apple, thyme, oregano, jalapeño, and olive oil

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Cooked Dips

Not all of these dips are served hot, but they all do involve turning the stove or oven on. That said, most of them are as easy as their no-cook kin.

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Sun-Dried Tomato and Roasted Garlic Pesto

Hardly traditional, this pizza-sauce pesto makes an excellent dip for bread, crackers, pita wedges, or chips. Makes about 2 cups

16 sun-dried tomato halves (see Note)

2 cups boiling water

1/3 cup grated aged Asiago

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon packed oregano leaves

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon salt

2 roasted garlic heads

Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a medium bowl, pour the boiling water over them, and soak until soft, about 20 minutes.

Place the softened tomatoes and 6 tablespoons of their soaking liquid in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade or in a large blender. Add the grated cheese, olive oil, oregano, vinegar, and salt.

Squeeze the pulp from each roasted garlic clove into the processor or blender. Pulse a few times, then process or blend until smooth.

To store: Transfer to a nonreactive bowl, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days; serve at room temperature.

Note: Use pliable, soft, sun-dried tomatoes, often found in the produce section of your market. Don’t use sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil.

Variations: Add ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes with the salt.

Substitute rosemary, tarragon, or thyme leaves for the oregano.

Substitute Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, or hard, aged goat cheese for the Asiago.

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Pesto

Pesto is a no-cook, Italian sauce, a favorite since Roman times and often thought to come from either Genoa or Sicily, but in fact probably of African origins. Although traditionally made of basil, pine nuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano, olive oil, garlic, and salt, pesto can truly be made from a range of ingredients, including this version with no nuts and oregano standing in for the basil. We’ve included it here among the cooked dips because the sun-dried tomatoes must be softened with boiling water (thus, the stove must be turned on and the garlic, roasted). Other pestos in this book, equally good as coffee-table dips, are Sage Pesto, Pecan Pesto, and Mint Pesto. See section Appetizers, Nibbles, and Snacks for a host of things that’ll get the pesto from the bowl to your mouth.

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Eggplant Caviar

This classic dip—sometimes called “Poor Man’s Caviar” because of the creamy, tiny caviar-like eggplant seeds—is enhanced by the sour spike of pomegranate molasses, a Middle Eastern condiment. Makes about 3 cups

1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium shallots, chopped

1 jarred whole roasted red pepper or pimiento, drained, rinsed, and minced

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Prick the eggplant in several