Mango Papaya Salsa... oh my!

As a New Year Resolution (one of the MANY) I’ve decided to simplify my cooking… it has been pointed out to me (Ahem, D!) that I have a tendency to go overboard with elaborate meals. Turns out when you are on funemployment and don’t have much to do with your day it is quite nice to try new things and spend the afternoon cooking. It kind of makes it seem like I have a “job” even if the job is just being a house-girlfriend. Though all afternoon cooking has made me pack on some pounds and left me in tears more than once when my cooking was a complete failure. So in order to try and burn off those pounds and not turning into a blubbering mess I’m trying to only try 1 or 2 new recipes a week. All uber healthy and all using fresh fruits and veggies. Last night’s dinner was simple- Salad with Chicken and Salsa. Though the chicken is a blackened chicken breast made with an amazing mesquite BBQ Rub and the salsa is a mango/papaya salsa made from a mix of 3 different recipes, ok maybe not so simple after all! Now I had forgotten on simple fact- the only way I’ve ever had mangos or papayas are in a smoothie or in gelato, but really how hard can they be to find and chop? But first I needed to find out what exactly a mango and papaya looked like! Thanks to D and our trusty Whole Foods I easily found 2 ripe tropical fruits, and thanks to one of my trusty cookbooks I was able to find out exactly how to peel, slice and dice those fruits… or so I thought. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to cut into a mango, but I had been told “just cut into its checks, cut the inside into little pieces and peel away the flesh”… sounds easy enough. Except the mango had a consistency of a peach inside and no matter how much I tore into it with a knife, spoon or my own fingers it did not want to budge from its skin… so cut to 15 min later and with goopy mango all over my hands, counter, cutting board and face (who knows how it even got there!) I finally had my perfectly diced fruit and was on to the Papaya… now the papaya had the consistency of a melon, after I took out all the nasty seeds and I’m sure you can guess just how many of those seeds ended up in the trash can and how many ended up on the floor and various other places in the kitchen- I even found one of my leg when I showered! But I figured that if it’s like a melon I could just scoop out the fruit and then cut it. Ok not quite how the cookbook told me to do it, but shockingly it worked. And once I mixed those two fruits in with the already chopped and diced ingredients (thanks Mom for the fancy food processor for Christmas) I was in pure heaven… somehow I made the most wonderful Salsa EVER!!! And D even told me that the chicken turned out to be the most delicious chicken he’s ever tasted- new trick I found is to slice up oranges and lay them over the chicken breasts as they cook! Now add in my Caribbean style dress and the tropical Christmas lights I put on for the evening and we had our own romantic paradise here in the Beach Shack 

Please enjoy my special recipe for Hardt’s Tropical Salsa!

Ingredients:
1 Garlic Clove
¼ Sweet Purple Onion
¼ Mango
¼ Papaya
3 Ripe Med/Large Tomatoes
1 Jalapeño
2 Tablespoons Dried Cilantro (or ¼ cup chopped fresh Cilantro)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil (Blood Orange or Tangerine infused if Possible)
1 Lime

Directions:

1) In Food Processor Mix together: Onion, Garlic, 1 ½ tomatoes, Cilantro, Jalapeño, Olive Oil and juice from 1 Lime. Pulse a few times until all mixed and chopped, and then transfer to a separate dish.
2) Chop by hand: Mango, Papaya and remaining Tomatoes. Combine with the Food Processor Mix. Additional Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil and Lime juice can be added to taste.
3) Open a cold beer and relax while the salsa marinates in the fridge for 30 min before you serve.