Mangos for Salsa & Garnish

Sweet Mango Garnish
Originally uploaded by flaurella.

Today as I continue to use the fresh fruit and veggies from the Farmers Market, I'll write about mangos and two ways to make a nice fruit garnish or salsa to enhance fish, chicken or pork.

Sweet Mango Garnish (recipe)

Coarsley chop 1/2 large sweet mango
(there's a long flat part in the center - don't eat that part)
Chop up half a green sweet pepper and
Half a red sweet pepper
Add the juice of one large lime
Add a couple of TBSP of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
(yes, Olive Oil!)
If you have them, finely chop up a scallion or two and include as much of the green part at the top as is tender and fresh.

Stir it all up, lightly salt, cover tightly with Saran wrap and refrigerate at least several hours or up to 24 hours. Serve cold with hot fish, pork or chicken as a tropical garnish.

You can also add fresh chopped mint or coconut if you leave out the scallions. This is a colorful garnish that adds a unique flavor

Hot Mango Salsa
Originally uploaded by flaurella.

Hot Mango Salsa Recipe:

Scald and skin some fresh tomatoes or use some quality stewed, canned ones to equal about 1 and 1/2 cups. Add some chopped jalapeno or chipotle peppers, depending upon how hot you can stand it. Frankly, very hot works great with this salsa since the mango is extremely sweet and balances the flames of hot peppers perfectly. Finely dice and add about 1/4 cup of onions. Chop up and add about 2 TBSP of fresh cilantro, Italian flat leaf parsley or regular parsley if that's all you have. Add the juice of 1/2 a fresh lime. (Don't use lemon - lime is much better with mango). Serve with your favorite seafood or meat dish, or with nachos instead of regular old plain salsa. I love the pain of very hot peppers and the relief of the sweet mango so I make this very hot and spicy. Try it as hot as you like. Later this week, I'll show you how I served this mango fruit garnish and salsa.

On a different note, one of my fave character actors has passed away. Howard Morris, who played Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show, has died at age 85. Did you know he was also the voice of the McDonald's Hamburglar as well as the voices of many characters on The Flintstones and The Jetsons? Rest in peace, Ernest T. Also passing away on the same date, May 22, was The voice of Tony the Tiger, Kellogg's pitchman, Thurl Ravenscroft. I'll think of Thurl everytime I hear that joke...

"What do you call a blonde in the freezer?"

A Frosted Flake.

(Yes, I know it's bad but ol' Thurl woulda loved it.)
Just what sort of parents names their son, "Thurl?"
"Ravenscroft" sounds English to me. I think it would all make more sense if they were Scandanavian or a genuine Thurlish family.
Go figure.