Mango Avocado Tomato Salsa

Finally, the real reason behind the whole blog. The salsa. It came to us in a combination of ways.. there is a lovely restaurant in Salisbury, MD called Cactus Taverna that serves mango slices on top of their entrees and it really adds a great flavor to fish.

We decided that we wanted to try mango on our own fish. Dennis talked to my mom about mango/peach salsa and said he wanted to try to make some at home. So we planned on making the salsa to put on top of some tuna steaks that we got from Target. I know right? Target has a really great grocery section now, in case you didn't know.

Anywho, Dennis asked me to find a recipe for mango salsa, and this is the first one I found. The prep work is time consuming, but once you have finished you just toss all of the ingredients together and let them mellow.

Ingredients

1 mango - peeled, seeded and diced

1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced

4 medium tomatoes, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/4 cup chopped red onion

3 tablespoons olive oil

Combine the mango, avocado, tomatoes, jalapeno, cilantro, and garlic in a medium bowl. I have a slap-chop type device that I use to dice all of the ingredients. It seems to work well and it is a lot easier than cutting everything with a knife.

We bought 2 of everything so that we could try the recipe twice. The second batch was better because everything was a lot riper so I would recommend buying your ingredients a few days in advance.

We used jarred jalapenos & jarred minced garlic for the recipe but you could try to get them fresh. We just kind of eyeballed it as far as the amounts go, but it ended up being about 8-10 jalapeno slices and 2.5 teaspoons of minced garlic.

Stir in the salt, lime juice, red onion, and olive oil. Just FYI - one large lime will give you 2 tablespoons of juice, but if the limes are on the small side I would get 2. To blend the flavors, refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving.

We grilled the tuna steaks and did some boil-in-a-bag white rice, then put a scoop of salsa on the plate. The meal was perfect.

This tastes amazing the day after you make it. We had it stored in a mixing bowl with a lid, but the lid isn't 100% airtight and when I opened the fridge the next morning, the amazing aroma hit me in the face like a 2x4. I was getting creamer for my coffee and I started wondering if salsa would be good for breakfast! I ate it later in the day with tortilla chips and it was excellent.

The second time we made the recipe, we doubled the mango and it was still amazing. I had salmon and Dennis had chicken, and they both went very well with the salsa.

Here is the original link from AllRecipes.com.

Red Beans and Rice

For my brother's 27th birthday this year, Dennis and I decided to try something really different (for us). We knew he had made Red Beans and Rice for himself before so we thought we would give it a shot.

Warning: This takes a LONG time to make so if you're going to tackle it make sure you allot yourself the proper amount of time. We were forced to rush a little bit and serve it up before it was technically ready. It still tasted amazing, so don't fret if you don't fulfill every minute of the recipe - it just tastes better and better as it cooks. You should give yourself around 4 hours to cook, and that doesn't include prepping the ingredients.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cups chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped bell peppers

Salt and cayenne, to taste

4 bay leaves

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 pound smoked ham hocks

1/2 pound boiled picked pork meat

1 pound dried red beans, rinsed & sorted over, soaked & drained

3 tablespoons chopped garlic

10 cups chicken stock, or water

4 cups cooked white rice

1/4 cup chopped green onions

If you are like Dennis, you will want to emulate Emeril (who is to thank for this recipe) and prep your ingredients in little bowls for lovely presentation.

Another warning about time - as you can see in the ingredients, the red beans need to be "rinsed and sorted over, soaked and drained." Sometimes there are stones or damaged beans in the lot that need to be removed, so make sure you sift through and find any of those. Rinse them in a colander and then soak them in a large bowl or pot (if you look closely you can see that the beans in the picture are soaked in water). We let them soak overnight because it helps to shorten the cooking time. It is not absolutely necessary to soak them for that long so if you don't have 8+ hours, there are other methods of pre-soaking that you can find on the packaging of the red beans.

Some of the ingredients are a little odd sounding - not stuff you would normally have around the house. Ham hocks for example... what are those?! Well in the above picture, the ham hocks are picture at the bottom left on the red plate. They are known as "pork knuckles," to give you a better idea of what in the world it is. It doesn't have much edible meat on it, so it is just used to cook in the mixture for added flavor. They should be in the meat section at the grocery store - not too hard to find.

When looking for the ingredients in the grocery store, we misread the "boiled picked pork meat" as "pickled pork meat" so we left the store without any! Looking back, it seems like pulled pork would work well in this situation. However, we weren't sure what to do at the time, and my mom told us to substitute bacon. Bacon is good on everything so we were happy to oblige.

The list also calls for bell peppers, but doesn't specify which color. We are partial to red peppers to snack on at home, so that is what we chose. It was a good taste, but I wouldn't rule out the less sweet green pepper.

Instructions

In a large saucepan, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, celery, and bell peppers to the saucepan. Season the vegetables with salt and cayenne. Saute the vegetables for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables start to wilt. Add the bay leaves, thyme, ham hocks, and pork meat (in our case, bacon) and saute for 5 to 6 minutes. Add the beans, garlic, and stock or water. Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 2 hours, uncovered. Add more stock or water if the mixture becomes dry and thick. Use a wooden spoon to mash 1/4 of the mixture. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the beans are tender and creamy. Add more liquid if it is too thick. The mixture should be soupy, but not watery. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. To serve ladle into bowls with rice. Garnish with green onions.

Those are the directions from Emeril Lagasse's website. When it describes the beans as being "creamy," it is a little hard to understand until you try the mixture. The beans will literally melt in your mouth once they are cooked well. This is what your finished product may look like:

Now the website says the recipe yields 8 servings.. they must be serving ogres or something. This makes a TON of servings. You would be better off freezing half of it for later or giving portions of it out to friends. It reheats really well and tastes just as great as it did fresh off of the stove.

Here is the original link from Emerils.com.