Mango Salsa and Grilled Salmon


 

Mango Salsa with Grilled Salmon

A beautiful, summery, dish that’s also healthy!

Mango salsa is a light and flavourful condiment that’s easy to make, and will add bright colours to your summer table.  You don’t even have to tell anyone how good it is for them!

Start out by dicing a third of a cup of red onion, and a third of a cup of cucumber.  Make the dice fairly small so several pieces will fit into a spoonful.  I used a seedless English cucumber because I like to leave the peel on for extra colour and vitamins.  If you’re using a regular field cucumber, peel and seed it before dicing.

Dice Red Onion And Cucumber

When dicing your vegetables for salsa, try to dice everything uniformly in size, and make the pieces small enough so every spoonful will have several pieces for best flavour.

Working with mangoes can be a bit of a trick.  They have a long, flat pit in the middle of the fruit which can be a challenge for your knife skills.  If you put the mango on your cutting board with the stem end facing away from you, slice down one side of the mango.  If you run into the pit, carefully run your knife around it, and gently twist the pieces apart.  Repeat on the other side, and you should easily be able to slice the rest of it.  Remove the peel, and dice as you would any other firm-fleshed fruit.  Choose mangoes that only have slight give to the flesh when you squeeze them.  Too hard and your salsa will be sour; too soft and your salsa will be a compote.

Diced Mango For Salsa

Once the mango has been peeled and diced, add it to the bowl. I used one large mango for this dish.

Seed and dice one large jalapeño and add that to the mix.  (For more heat, you can keep the seeds)

Grab a handful of fresh cilantro.  Again, my precise measurements!  The best way to describe it for you is to say about the size of a baseball at the leafy end.

Trim the Woody Stalks from Cilantro

Trim the stalks from the cilantro, and pile it on your cutting board.  The knife in the photo is my 12″ chef knife if that gives you a better reference for the amount!

Bundle the cilantro leaves in your free hand, and carefully begin chopping.  Keeping your knife in the same position, feed the cilantro toward the knife, making sure to keep your fingers safely tucked in.

Finely Dice the Cilantro

Once you’ve fed the cilantro through your knife one way, turn your cutting board and repeat until the cilantro is very finely chopped. Add about a third of a cup to your mixing bowl with the other ingredients.

Finally, roll a lime around on your cutting board, while applying firm pressure to release the juice.  You’ll need the juice of one fresh lime for your salsa.

Squeeze the Juice of One Lime Over Ingredients

After rolling the lime to release the juices, cut in half between the two ends. Begin carefully squeezing the juice over your salsa ingredients, making sure to catch any seeds that my fall. If you find the lime isn’t very juicy, pop it in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Be careful when you pick it up as it may be very hot! (This trick works very well with lemons too!)

Mix all the ingredients together, and let the flavours blend while you prepare your salmon.

Homemade Mango Salsa

A beautiful bowl of fresh, homemade mango salsa!

For the grilled salmon, I used wild Atlantic salmon fillets.  Lay them out on a cutting board or other clean surface, and pat them dry with paper towel.

Pat Salmon Fillets Dry and Season

Pat the salmon fillets dry, and apply a light coat of olive oil to both sides. Season with salt and pepper.

Due to an impromptu showing by Mother Nature yet again when I’m ready to grill, I had to pull out my trusty Cuisinart grill.  It works in a pinch, but the barbecue adds SO much more flavour to the salmon.

Preheat the grill to high heat, and if using a barbecue, turn the heat down to medium just before placing the fillets on.  These fillets were only about 3/4 of an inch thick in the middle, so two minutes per side is all they needed.  (Or, would have needed if I had been able to use the outdoor grill!)

Grill the Salmon Fillets

Using an indoor grill that folds over the salmon, these fillets only took two minutes total to cook through. Salmon is VERY easy to overcook, so be careful. You want to use a very hot grill to sear the outside quickly, and when the edges are starting to turn opaque, the salmon should be done.

Place the fillets on a plate, and top with your fresh mango salsa.  I like to add some cilantro over the top and around the plate for a nice colourful finish!

Grilled Salmon with Fresh Mango Salsa

Another recipe that takes a little prep time, but SO worth it! Great dish when you’re in the mood for something light and summery!

 

About Tami McVey

I've always been very passionate about writing and cooking so I thought I would combine the two, and help others learn to cook budget-friendly, health-conscious meals. I've been writing a monthly column for a newspaper for just over two years now, and it's recently been increased to a bi-monthly column due to interest! I just graduated from a second Business Administration program with a focus on marketing, and for the past three years I've been working on developing my writing career... turning my dreams into goals. Thank you for stopping by!
This entry was posted in How To, Recipes, Summer Fare and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

17 Responses to Mango Salsa and Grilled Salmon

  1. I love salmon and fruit salsa! I made a bbq salmon w/ fruit salsa @ http://www.glitzgirlzlglamourguide.com

  2. Angie Walker says:

    Gorgeous! Gorgeous! And I’m going to say it again….GORGEOUS!! Oh my gosh! I am going to put this on my to-do list (which is growing rapidly).

  3. Pingback: How To Eat A Pomegranate Seeds

  4. Raani York says:

    Another fantastic recipee to share!! It looks great and I don’t doubt it tastes great too!! How come, whenever I read your post I’m getting hungry?? LOL

  5. Ryan says:

    So Tami, tell whomever/whoever was squeezing the lime to stop biting their nails!!! Nancy & I love this one; too bad I have to be so careful with seafood. Where can I buy your recipe book? Is it in Chapters yet? When?

    • Food Forays says:

      I was tasting the salsa and accidentally bit the nail? LOL

      You could easily serve the salsa with a nice pan-seared chicken breast, or pork tenderloin. Anything with a mild flavour to it :)

      The book is in the works… I need to add several more hours to my days!

  6. You can call it “Tami’s Tasties… Simple Healthy stuff”

  7. hipfoodiemom says:

    Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing. . I love salmon. . I’ve always wondered: what is the white stuff that shows up on the side of salmon after you have cooked it? do you know?

  8. oiyoufood says:

    Hmmm. I am so going to make mango salsa this weekend! This post ( alight fish dish) is right up my street!

  9. Pingback: Add a Little Salsa to Your Life — Part I | Brooklyn Locavore

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s