For Entertaining
We had a great weekend in State College, celebrating a bunch of family birthdays. As usual, we stayed at my wife's sister's home, who organizes meals for every family gathering.
She is a wonderful home cook who puts on incredible feasts that are unique, entertaining, and delicious.
One of the simpler dishes she threw together was this delicious Mango Salsa that was served as an appetizer with chips but could be used just as nicely as a topping for chicken or pork. In fact, I threw some on my grilled salmon.
📖 Recipe
Mango Salsa with Black Beans
Ingredients
- ½ cup cooked black beans - you can cook them yourself but canned beans will work quite nicely.
- 1 medium mango ripe
- 1 red bell pepper
- ½ red onion
- Juice from 3 limes
- 8 tablespoons pineapple juice
- ⅓ cup of fresh cilantro
- 1- tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 jalapeno chili pepper
- Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Peel & pit the mango and then dice it into ¼ inch pieces.
- Core and seed the bell pepper and dice into small pieces.
- Peel and dice the onion into equal sized pieces.
- Squeeze the juice from the limes and have it ready.
- Chop the cilantro finely.
- Stem, seed and mince the jalapeno pepper. Be careful not to touch your hands to your eyes after working with this chile pepper.
- Combine all the ingredients together in one good sized bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings with the salt and pepper. Don't overwork the salsa or it will become a big mush.
Lisa
I just love this website - everything is explained including the tips that other recipes just assume the cook will already know about.
This weekend we made the aptly named Fabulous Pan Roasted Sea Bass and paired it with brown rice and the Mango Salsa over mixed salad greens. I left out, actually forgot to add, the black beans, which left this light enough to go with the fish. I added diced and salted avocado as a topping, not mixed in, to the salsa and having tasted the salsa both with and without it definitely recommend it as an option to the beans. BTW, no salad dressing is needed. To round out the meal, we had brown rice and a loaf of Safeway's jalapeno /cheddar cheese artisan bread served hot from the oven. Rather than a white or pinot, we enjoyed Heitz Cellar's 2007 Napa Valley Grignolino which was a delightful complement to the menu.
Tasting Notes: 2007 Grignolino will win you over immediately with its radiant garnet hue and vibrant floral bouquet! The fresh scent of rose petals hints at sweetness; however, the flavors of bright berry edged with orange peel are deliciously dry on the palate. Wine enthusiasts have shared the Heitz Family's affection for this unique wine since 1961. Grignolino (pronounced green-o-lean-o) is produced with a northern Italian varietal, known in the Piedmont region as the "little strawberry." Versatile and zesty, Grignolino is often seved slightly chilled as a terrific complement for spicy cuisines or lighter meats.
Hi Lisa, thanks for sharing your experience with Pan Roasted Sea Bass and the tasting notes from Grignolino. Keep them coming. - RG