Suzi's Blog
Mango and Mustard Salsa
M&M can only mean one thing: those darling little candies. One taste of this salsa though and M&M will now spark in your brain as: that hot sweet salsa that went so well with my chicken, or my steak, or just straight with those chips.
This salsa is a side dish to a Mojito Chicken recipe that people loved this summer at Cooking by the Book. I’ll blog the chicken tomorrow, but I want to give equal power and credit to this salsa. It’s very beautiful to behold. It’s hot, and yet it is sweet from the fruit. No added sugar here. My husband, Brian, did look at the bowl of brown sugar across the counter.
“How comfortable is the sofa?” I asked him.
He did not answer, but he did eat all the salsa. I am going to assume the sofa is not terrific and the salsa was more than acceptable.
This recipe is from Cheryl and Bill Jamison, authors of many outstanding cookbooks.
Mango Mustard Salsa
Yield: enough for 6 persons as a side dish
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 ripe mangoes, peeled and cut into ¼-inch dice
- ½ cup thinly bias-sliced scallions, green parts only
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼-inch dice
- 2 tablespoons American-style yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seed
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 jalpeno pepper, minced
Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients in a nonreactive bowl and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve or transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Source: Cheryl and Bill Jamison, as appeared in “Best American Recipes 2005-2006”
Orange, Tomato and Chive Salsa
I don’t work at Barnes and Noble but I do shop there. When you first enter the store, there is often a rack of “special” books that you may overlook. They always have modest prices. They always have a distinct size or cover. You might pass right by, but if you see The Complete Mexican by Jane Milton, Jenni Fleetwood, and Marina Filippelli, grab a copy. It’s filled with recipes that simply don’t “look” like the ones you are used to. You’ll gain a very new perspective on Mexican fare.
For example, salsa. Salsa? Most of the time we make our salsa with some — but not necessarily all — of a core set of ingredients: tomatoes, chilies, onion, cilantro.
Here’s a twist. Keep the tomato, but ditch the other stuff. Use oranges and chives instead! Yes, it sounds almost bizarrely different. But, it’s delicious. I had this as a side dish with a Mexican trout — blog to come! — and it was brightly flavorful.
One note here. You dice up the tomato and oranges. There’s a lot of fluid running around. This dish is best made just before the meal. And, no, it really does not last overnight in the fridge. In that sense, it seems to be a very authentic “make it now and eat it now” dish.
Orange, Tomato and Chive Salsa
Yield: Serves 4 as a side dish
- 2 large, sweet oranges
- 1 beefsteak tomato, or 2 plum tomatoes
- Bunch of fresh chives [mine were right of the garden!]
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
Preparation:
Slice the base off each orange so they will stand firmly on a chopping board. Using a large sharp knife, remove the peel by slicing from the top to the bottom of each orange.
Working over a bowl, segment each orange in turn. Slice toward the middle of the fruit, and slightly tone side of a segment, and then gently twist the knife to release the orange segment. Squeeze any juice form the remaining membrane.
Roughly chop the orange segments and them to the bowl of collected orange juice. Halve the tomato, and scoop the meat into the bowl. Dice the remaining flesh of each tomato half and add to the bowl.
Hold the bunch of chives over the bowl, and use scissors to snip them in short pieces over the bowl.
Thinly slice the garlic and stir into the mixture. Pour in the olive oil, then season with salt. Stir, taste, and adjust to meet your needs.
Source: The Complete Mexican by Jane Milton, Jenni Fleetwood, and Marina Filippelli
