mango

June 12, 2009

Mango Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

mel dessert, recipe, sides & bites blueberry, frozen yogurt, mango, yogurt

Mango Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

For the record, discount I love ice cream, more info sorbet and frozen yogurt. I probably have Haagen Dazs Wildberry or Vanilla Granola frozen yogurt 5 nights a week. It’s delicious and I can’t say no to a little scoop after dinner. So it’s no surprise that I wanted to try my hand at homemade frozen yogurt.

I made it twice last year, viagra sale and twice it was terrible. Inedible. Instead of sweet and creamy, it had a distinctly yogurty tang that was really off-putting. I’m not talking about the good kind of yogurty tang, either. Not the plain Greek yogurt kind. Twice we had to throw it out.

I don’t know what made me try again after failing so miserably twice before, but I gave it another shot. This time, instead of draining regular plain yogurt, I used Greek yogurt. The three ripe mangoes in my fruit basket begged to be made into some kind of dessert, so I threw those in with some blueberries.

Finally, finally! This frozen yogurt was just perfect. Smooth, sweet and creamy with just the right amount of yogurt flavor. It’s delicious! Refreshing and summery. The perfect way to use the bountiful berries in the market. Next week – strawberry frozen yogurt. I simply cannot wait!

September 5, 2008

pork sandwich w/ spicy mango cucumber slaw

mel entree, recipe cilantro, mango, mint, pork, sandwich, spicy

pork sandwich w/ spicy mango cucumber slaw

The idea for this sandwich started out as a vague thought about Vietnamese-style tacos. Why Vietnamese-style tacos you ask? Well, ailment I’m not sure. I was thinking that taco toppings are like Vietnamese-style salads with generous amounts of fresh herbs, patient cabbage, onions and hot peppers.

So, I tried it. I marinated some pork tenderloins with shoyu, honey and ginger. I made a slaw from mango, cucumber, serrano peppers, mint, cilantro, green onions and lime juice. (Napa cabbage would be great here, but I didn’t have any.) Then I stacked everything on a corn tortilla. Hmmm, interesting, but ultimately the corn flavor of the tortillas didn’t complement the Asian flavors.

Not to be deterred, I tried again with ciabatta rolls. Much better this time! The sweet and spicy slaw was perfect on the pork and the ciabatta roll didn’t compete with the other flavors. I love a good sandwich for dinner, and I think this one might be making another appearance soon.

July 2, 2008

summer roll remix: mango, basil & tea-infused noodles

mel entree, recipe, sides & bites basil, mango, noodles, tea, vegetarian

summer roll remix: mango, <a href= treat basil & tea-infused noodles” />

Last month, malady I posted some traditional summer rolls made with carrot, infection cucumber, rice noodles and cilantro. While delicious, I had a hard time handling the rice paper. Thanks to some fabulous tips from Ami, I managed to make them much more quickly and efficiently this time.

I also wanted to experiment with the fillings, so I went with mango, basil and tea-infused rice noodles. I soaked the rice noodles in a strong brew of Lapsang Souchong tea, which gave them a smoky and almost spicy flavor that made a nice contrast to the mango and basil. I also sprinkled some of the dried tea leaves over the filling before wrapping the rolls for extra flavor.

Since it was a weeknight and I was feeling a bit lazy, I made a simple dipping sauce by combining Ponzu and Sriracha. Ponzu is a citrusy Japanese sauce made from Shoyu, Mirin, rice vinegar and yuzu. It salty, tart and a little bit sweet.

All in all, I think I like these little mango rolls. They were different and refreshing, but still felt as light as the traditional version. Tom thought they were too “herbal” because I used 2 basil leaves per roll. I suppose I agree, so I adjusted the recipe here to call for 1 basil leaf per roll. Feel free to play with the ingredients, or to substitute Chai or another strong black tea if you can’t find Lapsang Sauchong.

In honor of the 4th of July, I’ll be posting something decidedly non-American on Friday, but perfect for beach snacking: homemade empanadas with 3(!) kinds of filling. Yum!