Thursday, June 26, 2008

Recipes for Mango and Feta Salad & Pan-Fried Scallops with Mango Salsa (Μάνγκο και Φέτα Σαλάτα & Χτένια με Μάνγκο Σάλτσα)

Fruit and cheese pair beautifully.

Pears and blue cheese, apple and cheddar,
watermelon and feta: all are wonderful combinations.

When I came across Mango and Feta Salad on
Feeding Maybelle, I started craving it immediately. Feeding Maybelle is my Taste and Create partner this month.

Taste and Create is an event created and organized by
For the Love of Food in which food writers are paired with a randomly assigned partner, and asked to cook and review one recipe from their partner’s blog. Although there are many wonderful recipes on Feeding Maybelle’s blog, I had to try the Mango and Feta Salad.

As is usually the case in Alaska, the grocery store mangos were rock hard. I bought them anyway, and ripened them at room temperature in a brown paper bag. Mango is ripe when it yields to a gentle squeeze (similar to testing avocados for ripeness).

Mangos have a very large, flat seed. The easiest way to remove the seed is to cut off half the mango flesh as close to the seed as possible. Cut off the second mango half as close to the other side of the seed as you can. You’ll be left with two large pieces of mango and a seed encircled by mango flesh.

How to Cut MangoWith the proper technique, cutting up mango is easy. Cut crosshatches in the flesh of each mango half, being careful not to cut through the skin, and push up from the bottom so the mango half is inside out. Cut off the mango chunks and discard the skin. Peel the flesh surrounding the seed and cut off as much mango flesh as possible (or chew it off as a chef’s treat).

The mango is now ready to eat or use in a recipe.

With my mango ripened and cleaned, I turned to the Mango and Feta Salad recipe. Sweet mango, salty feta, herby basil, and spicy pepper dressed with best quality extra virgin olive oil made a wonderful salad and a perfect lunch.

I liked the salad so much I made it again for dinner, only this time I diced the ingredients to make a salsa and added minced jalapeños and red onions. I served the Mango Salsa with Pan-Fried Scallops for a light and delicious summer supper.

Mango and Feta Salad
Mango and Feta Salad (Μάνγκο και Φέτα Σαλάτα)
Serves 1 as a meal and 2 as a side salad
Adapted from
Feeding Maybelle

1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1 tsp. minced basil
1 Tbsp. best quality olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Lightly toss the mango, feta, basil, and olive oil together. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

Scallops with Mango Salsa
Pan-Fried Scallops with Mango Saltsa (Χτένια με Μάνγκο Σάλτσα)
Serves 2
It you don’t like spicy food, use only 1 Tbsp. jalapeño.

Mango and Feta Salsa:
1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into 1/2” dice
1/3 cup crumbled feta
2 Tbsp. minced red onion
1 – 2 Tbsp. minced jalapeño
1 Tbsp. minced fresh basil
2 Tbsp. best quality olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Scallops:
12 large scallops (about 1 pound)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Wash the scallops, removing any tough muscle clinging to the scallops' sides. Dry them well and season on both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Make the Salsa: Lightly toss all the ingredients together. Taste and add salt or freshly ground pepper, as needed.

Cook the Scallops: Heat the olive oil over high heat in a frying pan large enough to hold all the scallops. When the oil is very hot, add the seasoned scallops, and cook on the first side for 2 – 3 minutes, depending on the scallops’ size. Turn the scallops over and cook for 2 minutes more. Except for turning them over the one time, do not move the scallops or fidget with them while they cook. The scallops will brown better if they aren’t repeatedly turned.

While the scallops are cooking, warm the plates (this is easiest to do in a microwave; put the dry plates in the microwave for 1 minute on high). Place equal amounts of mango-feta salsa in the center of each warmed plate. Arrange the scallops around the salsa. Serve immediately.

21 comments:

Maria Verivaki said...

My husband fell in love with mango ever since he started traveling in Asia. Since then, he has planted a mango tree in our village, which produced 2 fruits last year. This year, it became frost bitten as the village was snowed in for a couple of days. Now, it's starting to grow leaves, but no signs of fruit.
And you are right, cutting a mango can be a little tricky (and mushy).

Αρμός said...

Καλώς σε βρίσκω και καλό Σαββατοκύριακο!

Kalyn Denny said...

Love the idea of mango, feta, and basil together! Saving this recipe and glad you got paired with such a creative blogger.

Cheryl said...

Wow, that's quite and infusion of flavors. It sounds wonderful and also reminds me of my other home away from home...Puerto Rico where the mangos are abundant. Most of my relatives there have a mango tree and you can be woken up at night by a big "thunk" because mangos fall from the trees onto the rooftops. Great recipe!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Love both of the incarnations of this recipe. Mango salsa is a staple in our house -- it's especially good with fish tacos. The pairing with feta sounds delicious.

Elly said...

This looks so great! I have been loving mango anything lately and I bet pairing it with feta and basil would be absolutely delicious. Great pick for T&C!

Grace Ediza Virlouvet said...

looking good...havent tried such combination of flavors.. btw, adding u to my links

Anonymous said...

I love mangoes! Can't wait to try BOTH recipes. Thanks!

Paz

Langdon Cook said...

Love those mango salsas! With red pepper and cilantro it's delicious over grilled salmon. Will definitely be trying this recipe. Thanks for sharing.

Langdon Cook said...

Love those mango salsas! With red pepper and cilantro it's delicious over grilled salmon. Will definitely be trying this recipe. Thanks for sharing.

Lisa Turner said...

I'm loving this salad! Everything is better with feta cheese :)

maybelles mom said...

Laurie, thanks for your note. And, it looks great here. I love the addition of chili. I sometimes even add grilled corn to the salsa. ANd, I bet it is great on Scallops.

Joanne said...

You are absolutely right Laurie. Cheese and fruit pair beautifully!
I especially like the combination of Greek kaseri cheese with watermelon or cantaloupe, and also English Stilton cheese goes very nicely with bosh pears or granny smith apples.

Mango salsa is a beautiful thing too especially paired with seafood! As much as I love scallops, I am rarely able to indulge in them since they are ridiculously expensive here. I normally pair mango salsa with grilled salmon.

Great idea! I should try adding some fresh basil to the salsa next time I make it.

Mike of Mike's Table said...

I clearly don't enough magical fruit and cheese combos. I'll have to try this one--mangoes go quickly in this house!

Thistlemoon said...

That looks like heaven! I have been wanting to try watermelon and feta too - maybe I should do both! :)

Sam Sotiropoulos said...

One the many things I love about feta cheese is just how versatile a cheese it really is! It pairs amazingly well with all sorts of fruit. Although I have never tried it with mango, I am sure the flavour is excellent as I can imagine the combination on my tongue. Good showing! And with the scallops I am sure the meal was both refreshing and luscious, truly easy to eat! :-)

Laurie Constantino said...

Oh Maria, how I would love to have a mango tree - you definitely live in someplace like the Garden of Eden.

Χαίρετε Αρμός!

Kalyn, so glad you liked it.

Cheryl, I've always wanted to go to Puerto Rico and try the food. I've read a lot about it and it all sounds so delicious. Being woken by falling mangoes - I could get used to that!

Lydia, oh yes, mango salsa on fish tangoes is just wonderful. There's a restaurant I eat at when visiting my parents just so I can order it.

Elly, I do love Taste and Create. Some months are difficult, but I really enjoy learning about blogs I would never otherwise find. Feeding Maybelle is a particularly good blog for me as the author loves foraging, as do I.

Thank you Grace!

Paz, you are so welcome!

Finspot, good ideas to add red pepper and cilantro for salmon.

Lisa - you are so right!

Maybelle's Parents, I really enjoyed your blog and was so happy to be able to cook from it. (I also made the roasted sweet potatoes with ras al hanout - so tasty.)

Bijoux, mmm kaseri and melon sounds really good. That's too bad about the price of scallops - seems like everything is getting outrageously expensive.

Mike, I think you'd better!

Sam, I agree with you completely about the versatility of feta. One wonderful combo I forgot to mention is feta and grapes, which I tend to overeat in late summer when we're in Greece.

bee said...

that is such a sunny, happy dish.

Anonymous said...

That's great you managed two incredible summer treats from one recipe -- double bang for the buck, so to speak! And yes, gnawing on the seed and left-on bits on the skin are definitely "chef's perks"!! ; )

Shreya said...

Awesome mango treats:-)

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