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.

Broiled Striped Bass

Dennis came home from an after-work fishing trip with this bad boy back in December 2008. He cleaned it himself and gave me the meat to do with as I pleased! I decided to cook and eat it (as opposed to what, I don't know). Unfortunately, this was one of those times when I had already eaten right before he brought me/cooked me some food and I ate a few bites and said "I'm full!" If you would like to hear more of those stories, just ask Dennis... I'm sure he's dying to relate them.

So Dennis took care of the hard part and I did the easy part. Cooking fish (certain types of fish, I want to say white fish but I don't know enough about fish to confidently say it) can be really simple, quick, and easy to clean up. When I was in college my dad told me how to cook fish and it's so easy I still remember it. Here's what you need.

Ingredients

Olive oil, salt, & pepper (all amounts to taste)

Lemon wedge, if preferred

Yep! That's it. Oh and fish.

This can get a little messy so I like to use aluminum foil to keep it all contained. Make a little tray out of foil and put it on a cookie sheet. I use a cookie sheet with sides just in case the oil gets out. Lay the fish down in the foil tray and drizzle the oil over it, then salt & pepper it. Flip it over and repeat. Then turn the broiler on and put the cookie sheet on the top tray closest to the broiler. Leave it in for about 7 minutes, then take it out and flip the fish again. Wait another 7 minutes then check on it. At this point, the fish should be "flaky," meaning that if you jab it with a fork, the pieces flake off easily.

If you like tartar sauce or anything like that with your fish, you can try it out, but I just add more salt & pepper if needed. I usually pair fish with steamed broccoli & squirt the lemon wedge over both. Fantastic!