Mango Mousse with Berry Sauce

Mango mousse is a cool and light dessert for summer.

Ingredients:
1 packet unflavored Knox gelatin
2 cups chopped mango
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (peach juice would be a lovely substitution)
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup light cream
2 cups raspberries
1-2 tablespoons Chambord (optional)
2 tablespoons sugar

To Make Mango Mousse:

Sprinkle gelatin over juice in small bowl and let soften 5 minutes.

Place bowl in small saucepan with water and heat on low until gelatin is completely dissolved.

While gelatin is heating, puree mangos and sugar in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Add gelatin mixture to mangos and mix again until smooth and uniform. Pour into a large bowl (with enough room to add about 3 cups of whipped cream).

Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold into mango mixture.

Place remaining 1 cup raspberries at bottom of mousse dishes so that the side of the berry with the hole faces up.

Spoon mousse mixture over raspberries, cover and refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours before serving.

To Make Fruit Sauce:

Puree 1 cup raspberries and pour into a fine sieve, pressing down with the back of a large spoon to extract liquid.

Mix in sugar and Chambord (if using), stir until sugar has dissolved.

To serve, decorate small dessert plates with raspberry sauce (in a spiral, lattice pattern, etc). Flip mousse dishes upside down so that mousse releases self onto dessert plate (you may need to run a knife lightly around it to loosen).

Mojito Mania - Raspberry, Guava and Mango Mojitos

Ingredients for traditional Mojito:

1/2 shot simple syrup 1 1/2 oz white rum 1 oz fresh lime juice
8 mint leaves 1 splash seltzer
Ice

Muddle mint leaves with rum. In cocktail shaker, add rum, mint, ice, simple syrup and lime juice. Shake vigorously and pour into glass. Pour splash seltzer into cocktail shaker and mix around, then pour over mojito. Garnish with lime wedge.


Variations:


Mango Mojito:

Use 2 oz mango flavored rum in place of white rum. Add a few pieces of diced mango when muddling.


Raspberry Mojito:

Add 10 raspberries to mint and rum. Muddle well, then finish like normal mojito.


Guava mojito:

Add 1 oz guava nectar and increase rum to 2 oz.

Peanut Noodles with Shrimp and Mango

After work I set out on the mission of finding rice paper to make summer rolls. I had a recipe in mind, presentation all set...and no rice paper! (D@mn you Shaw's, Foodmaster and Trader Joe's!). Disappointed but not defeated, I had to alter my recipe a bit...rice noodles in place of rice paper...and the plum dipping sauce was out, peanut was in.

Salad Ingredients:

1 pack wide rice noodles
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped mango
1 cucumber, peeled and cut into thin sticks
1 lb cooked shrimp, peeled, de-veined and de-tailed
2 green onions (about 1/2 cup chopped), cut horizontally
1/3 cup diced cilantro
1/4 cup crushed roasted peanuts
1 lime

Peanut Sauce Ingredients:

1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup coconut milk
2 teaspoons ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Mix peanut butter with coconut milk in medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, sugar and crushed red pepper and bring to a simmer. Cook about 5-10 minutes until mixture has thickened slightly, stirring to prevent the sauce from burning. Remove from heat. (Add more spice according to your personal preferences!)

Heat up a large pot of water. Add rice noodles to boiling water and cook according to instructions. Drain and rinse well with cold water. Toss noodles in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil.

Toss cold noodles with 1/2 cup sauce. Add more until noodles are thinly coated with peanut sauce. Add shrimp, mango and cucumber and toss salad. Squeeze lime over salad. Top with cilantro, green onions and crushed peanuts.

Blood Orange and Mango Sorbet

3 medium ripe mangos, peeled and cut into chunks (I used 3 cups of frozen mango chunks, thawed)
2-1/2 cups blood orange juice from 7 to 8 medium blood oranges
3/4 cup granulated sugar, or to taste (if mangos are not sweet I'd use 1 cup sugar)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated blood orange zest

Blend the mango and blood orange juice high speed until smooth. Strain into into a large measuring cup. Ideally this makes about 4 cups. If it is less, decrease the sugar, lemon juice and zest by the percentage less, i.e if you have 3 cups, use 3/4 tablespoon lemon juice, etc. If it makes more, increase the sugar, lemon juice and zest.

Combine the sugar and about one-quarter of the pureed fruit in a medium saucepan. Turn heat to medium and cook until the sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally, about 2-3 minutes. Stir into the remaining fruit and mix in the lemon juice and blood orange zest. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Pour into freezer-safe container and seal lid. Check and stir every hour or so, to prevent the sorbet from becoming too crystallized/to make it smooth. When it is very chunky but not completely frozen, blend sorbet again to make uniform. Pour back into container, seal, and freeze until use.

Photo cour testy of JayChef-amazing food photographer

Guava and Mango Paté

Ingredients:

2 cups mangos (from 2 ripe mangos or 2 cups of frozen chunks, thawed)
1 cup thawed Goya guava pulp
1 envelope plus 1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/3-1/2 cup sugar (for sweeter mangos, use less sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 ounces of cream cheese, cut into small chunks and allowed to warm to room temperature

Puree mangos in blender until smooth. Pour into medium mixing bowl. Pour guava pulp into another medium mixing bowl.

In small pyrex bowl, sprinkle gelatin over water and let soften for about 5 minutes. Place pyrex bowl in small saucepan. Add water to pan until it reaches about 1 inch below pyrex top. Simmer water until gelatin has dissolved.

At the same time, heat cream and sugar in clean saucepan until almost boiling. Remove from heat and whisk in cream cheese chunks until most has melted. Whisk in vanilla and gelatin. Pour 2/3 mixture into mango puree. Using mixer, beat until mixture is incorporated. Pour remaining 1/3 cream mixture into guava and beat to incorporate. Taste mixtures for sugar; add more if needed.

Pour mango puree into square or round glass baking pan (about 9x9). Pour guava mixture slowly on top, swirling into mango (this makes it look pretty).

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Coconut-Mango Chicken with Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients:
2 mangoes, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1-inch chunks (or 2 cups frozen mango chunks, defrosted)
1 cup coconut nectar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinaigrette
2 cups fresh red raspberries (reserve 1/4 cup for garnish)
1/4 cup raspberry jam
Salt & White Pepper

Rinse chicken breasts and remove excess fat. Pat dry and set in bowl; pour 2 tablespoons lime juice over chicken. Salt and pepper chicken lightly. Cover and refrigerate until cooking.

In medium saucepan, bring vinaigrette, raspberries (minus reserved 1/4 cup) and raspberry jam to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer about 5 minutes, or until mixture thickens. Remove a few spoonfuls of mixture and set in bowl. Strain remaining mixture into bowl, pressing with a spoon to remove solids.

Cut up mango into small chunks, reserving about 1/2 cup for garnish. Mix mango with coconut nectar and remaining lime juice and puree in food processor or blender. Bring blended mixture and reserved mango chunks to a boil in medium saucepan.

Melt butter in large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts and turn heat to medium. Flip after about 3 minutes or when starting to brown, and cook the other side for an additional 3 minutes. Pour coconut-mango sauce over chicken, bring to simmer and cook until chicken juices run clean when cut. Remove from heat. Plate and pour raspberry sauce over chicken. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Coconut Rice with Mango Chunks

Ingredients:
2 cups jasmine rice
2 cups water
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup coconut water
2 mangos, chopped, or about 2 cups of frozen mango chunks, defrosted
1 lime
1/2 cup cilantro
Salt

Wash and mince cilantro. Cut mango into small chunks, about 1/4 inch thick.

In large pot, add 2 cups rice with coconut milk/water and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and stir 1 minute. Turn heat down to medium-low and cover pot. Cook 15-20 minutes, checking to stir rice and add remaining water as needed. Let rice cool so that it is no longer steaming.

Juice lime and pour over rice. Stir in cilantro and salt lightly. Fold in mango chunks. Turn heat to medium, until rice is just hot again, being careful not to burn rice.

Eat with Chicken Breasts with Passion Fruit Sauce