the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Mango Salsa Number 1

I’ve shared in a number of posts over the past couple of years that we’re big fans of salsas of all sorts around our camp.

Salsas (for the most part) are quick and easy additions to any meal, most often combining likely (and perhaps a few unlikely) ingredients to create unique explosions of flavor to spice what might otherwise be tame proteins or vegetables.

Here’s a great example – a few weeks back at my lovely wife’s urging I drug a recipe out of mothballs that we’d not enjoyed in a while – a sesame seed and parmesan crusted tuna steak. We used to serve this delight with a sauce based on chipotle chiles in adobo and apricot jam, and it was stunningly good.

For better or for worse that sauce has fallen from our lexicon since going Primal, and I was digging around for a great fruit-based salsa to serve with the tuna.

There are hundreds (perhaps even millions) of nifty fruit salsa recipes floating around out there in the ether, and as there happened to be some nice-looking mangos at the grocery that day, I reached for this salsa recipe shared by Chef Libby in Austin a few years back.

Around our table we whole-heartedly agree that a dusting of ancho chile powder (the floral notes really fit well) and even a whisper of cumin really play well with mango salsa, though Libby’s perhaps not so secret weapon is the additional of a teaspoon or two of a good habanero-based hot sauce, preferably one of the Central American brands. The hot sauce adds just a touch of genuine heat to the game without overwhelming the fruit and other vegetal flavors.

This one is best eaten the day it’s made, but if we ever have any left over my lovely wife argues it’s better the second or third day.

2 ripe mangos, diced
1/2-1 medium red or orange bell pepper, chopped
½ cup chopped red onion
2-4 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
1 large lime, juiced
1/2 tsp good salt (to taste)
1-2 tsp of a good tropical habanero based hot sauce
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder (optional)
1/4 tsp ground cumin (optional)

Combine the diced/chopped mangos, red bell pepper, onion, cilantro, and jalapeño in a medium bowl.

Sprinkle on the salt, chile powder, and cumin if using, then squeeze the lime juice over as well as the habanero sauce if using.

Stir gentle, taste, and adjust the seasoning to suit.

Enjoy.