So I was at Perfect Cuts the other day buying some steaks and some chicken and the conversation turned to compound butters and then to smoked ribs and then settled into salsa.

Conversations tend wander around like that in a place that specializes in good tasting meat and chicken.

Compound butter is butter that is softened and then whipped with other ingredients, like roasted garlic and blue cheese. You then roll it in parchment or waxed paper and then re-refrigerate it or freeze it. The butter is delicious on stuff like steaks and chicken and of course, it isn't real good for you but it tastes good like most things do that are bad for you.

But then we got to talking about salsa because salsa, is, in fact, good for you and it's easy to make, particularly if you're good with a sharp knife.

Salsa is goes well on a lot of dishes and I shared my salsa recipe with Carla and she asked me to e-mail it to her, but I lost her card and her e-mail almost immediately, so I figured I'd throw on my apron and play Betty Crocker for a little while and just tell everyone how to make a good, fresh salsa.

Ingredients:

4 Roma tomatoes

1 or 2 shallots

1 mango

1 small handful cilantro

1/2 Anaheim pepper or jalapeno pepper

1/2 red or yellow pepper

1/2 cup or so of canned pineapple

Lime juice, freshly squeezed, from one or two limes

Salt to taste

Directions: Dice the tomatoes, shallots, mango, cilantro, peppers and pineapple. I like to do one item at a time. So you dice all the tomatoes, put them in a bowl, then shallots, and so on and so forth. You also pour maybe a quarter cup of the pineapple juice from the canned pineapple into the salsa. To juice a lime, roll your hand over it on the counter, then cut it in half and squeeze. Make sure you don't let the seeds fall in the salsa.

As far as salt goes, I use just a little bit, maybe a pinch. You can over salt this real easy. Also, when you dice your ingredients, you want them basically the same size. If you do it right, every spoonful has each ingredient and you'll start out with the taste of tomatoes, then the sweetness of fruit and then the bite of pepper.

I like to grill pounded out chicken breasts or arm steaks and then slice them into thin strips, ladle on the salsa, put on some rice and then roll the whole she-bang into a whole wheat flour tortilla.

It's real simple, real easy, and really nice on these 100-degree days when the last thing you want to do is fire up a stove.

You can also freely substitute ingredients, with one exception: You can't leave out the cilantro. It just won't taste the same.

Next week: Wines that go with hot dogs!

Chris Peterson is the head chef at the Hungry Horse News.