Mango salsa anyone?

Last night, I made my first mango salsa.  Not being a friend of many fruits, this was a big deal for me.  I get apprehensive about anything I don’t heat, cook or chill?

Menu consisted of grilled lemon shrimp and grilled cod with a mango-mint salsa, over a rice pilaf. I wanted a light, refreshing dinner due to the extreme heat wave we have endured. Plus I wanted to use my recently harvested, burpless cucumbers.  I knew I needed to use some cod fillets I had in the freezer and being a sturdy, flexible piece of fish…tonight was the night.

It is important to use rather large peeled & deveined shrimp, as cooking them on the grill requires the use of kabobs (of which I soaked in cold water for at least 30 minutes).  Marinade: mix together in a bowl 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice; 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley; 2 T. olive oil (my favorite is Colavita EVOO, it is light and perfect for this application); 6 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 t. salt; 1/8 t. red pepper flakes.  Reserve 2 T. of marinade for serving.  After thawing and cleaning the shrimp, mix them, by hand, in your marinade. Allow them to sit in the fridge, covered for 15 minutes.  No  more than 15 minutes, as the shrimp will become water logged and will get tough as they cook.  Skewering the shrimp tightly on wooden skewers, it only took maybe 10-15 minutes for them to cook on a hot grill (6-7 minutes per side).

The Mango-Mint Salsa requires a bit more prep work.  The salsa taste best if served within 3 hours of making.  Salsa: 1 ripe mango; 1 medium-sized cucumber (burpless cucumber in my case); 1 large chopped scallion; 1/2 medium red bell pepper w/o seeds; 1 T. minced ginger; 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped; 1/4 cup fresh mint; 3 T. lime juice; 3 T. light brown sugar.  Make sure to finely chop the mango, cucumber, scallion, bell pepper and jalapeno into small bit size portions (I made my slightly smaller, almost as small as I could cut them).  Mix all ingredients together, taking care to dissolve all sugar.  My salsa sat for approximately 30 minutes with allowed the sugar to break down even better.  Once I stirred it before serving, it was a brilliant color, fragrance and flavor.  You can adjust the lime juice or brown sugar to suit your taste.

Served over a bed of rice pilaf…this was a success!  Doug and I ate it all.

Grilled Lemon Shrimp recipe from America’s Test Kitchens

Mango-Mint Salsa from Steven Raichlen