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Mango

Mango Wrapped Mozzarella


I’m back. Sort of. When I say that I’m move into my new place, all that means is that my stuff is physically there. 

In boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. But the gas isn’t on yet, so I can’t cook, and showers have been very cold. 

Like this mango.

So the theme for this week is about food you can cook without a stove.

Which can be tricky. But when you are so sick of take out and pizza and all you want to do is cook a meal for your family and the stove is gas which hasn’t been turned on yet and the new place doesn’t have a microwave and your old place had a built in one that had to stay and you can’t figure out which of the billion boxes holds the cord to the electric griddle, you have to make do.  

So this is what I made for breakfast for my first morning in the new house:

Scrambled eggs in the waffle maker. Totally works. 

Bacon cooked on an electric crepes maker. 

Toast. 

It may have been my most creative use of heating elements, but it wasn’t the most delicious breakfast ever to be made by my hands. 

In keeping with the motto of my life: Figure out what is great about the situation that you are in and enjoy the crap out of it, I decided to give you a tasty treat that requires no cooking. It only has three ingredients and the only tricky part is shaving the mango with the vegetable peeler. But even if you need two of three strips of mango to go around the mozzarella ball, who cares. Its easy and tasty and looks fancy. Don’t sweat it. 

I hope to bring you pictures of my new place soon, right now the mess isn’t nearly charming enough to be photogrpahed. Except Taters room, it’s her perfect little sanctuary in the midst of the chaos, even the pictures are hung and every box has been unpacked. Other than that, the rest can wait. 

Mango Wrapped Mozzarella

1 large mango

12 Bocconcini or Ciliegine sized mozzarella balls

2 tbs balsamic vinegar 

Peel the mango with a vegetable peeler. once the peel has been removed, shave thin slices of the mango with the vegetable peeler until you have enough to cover the mozzarella balls. 

Wrap the mozzarella balls with the mango slices and secure with a toothpick. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar. 

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Miniature Mango Rum Cakes

I couldn’t possible eat everything I make for this blog. As much as I love to bake, I love to give it away just as much. When I’m invited to someones house, I come bearing a tray of baked goods, requested or not. These cakes needed to leave my house as soon as I had the first bite. I had to find someone to take them off my hands and save me from eating a dozen Mango Rum Cakes with Lemon Butter cream. I made 6 in mini bundt cake pans and 8 in cupcake form. Dangerous.

This is how these cakes grew as an idea in my head:

I want to make a rum cake.

But, how do I make it different?

I have a gorgeous mango, I should use that.

And the frosting?

OOOOhhh…lemons!

Lemon buttercream. Mango, rum, lemon! It’ll be like a one of those umbrella drinks pool side at a resort.

OK, who do I give these to? I will eat them ALL if they stay in my house. The Movies and Bingo group.

I know a group of senior ladies that meet a few days a week to watch movies and play bingo. I dropped them off to them, as I did with the Caramel Cake I made a few weeks ago. Elena, at 68 years old is one of the younger, spunkier ladies. She took one look at these mini cakes and said, "Rum cake? Next time put my rum on the side and make it a double!"

Mini Mango Rum Cakes With Lemon Buttercream Frosting

For the Rum Cake:

1 stick of butter, softened

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups of flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup rum

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup of mango, diced

For the Lemon Buttercream:

2 sticks of butter, softened

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup of whole milk

2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the vanilla and beat some more. In a sperate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, mix well. In another bowl, add the rum and the oil. Starting and ending with the dry ingredients, add both the dry and wet ingredients to the stand mixer, a bit at a time, alternating between the two until all is combined in one bowl. Add the mango and stir until just combined.

Add your batter to either mini bundt cake pans (spray with butter flavored cooking spray), or muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. Fill 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 18-25 minutes (depends on the size of your pan) or until top springs back when touched.

Allow to cool completely.

Combine all the ingredients for the lemon butter cream in a stand mixer. Mix on low speed until mostly combined, the raise to high speed and whip until light and fluffy.

Pipe on the top of the cakes.

Apricot Mango Creme Brulee Tart

I remember the very first time I had Creme Brulee. A friend of Mr. Fits (a very fancy friend) order it for me while we where all out for dinner at a little restaurant in Pasadena. I was young, in my last year of college, and I was too embarrassed to say that I had no idea what Creme Brulee was. So I waited. Every dessert flanked waiter who came within ten feet of my table was given a thorough visual molesting as I tried to figure out if what he was carrying was, in fact, Creme Brulee. Is that cake-like thing it? Nope. What about that Chocolate thing in that tiny ceramic pot? hmmm, wrong table. And then it was in front of me. I was intimidated. Do I pick off this thick, hard crust on the top? What do I do? I stalled and waited to see what Fancy Friend did with his. Oh..you crack it open by smashing it with the tip of your spoon. I like dessert that involves very subtle violence. I loved it. The fleeting thought did cross my mind that I would love this vanilla custard with the hardened sugar top in a tart shell. Six years later, I did just that.

This week I wrote another article for the Glendale Examiner on the Montrose Farmers Market. It was there that I discovered that apricots are in the last few weeks of their season. I was so drawn to these huge bins of beautiful pale orange fruit they became the center of my recipe. I wasn’t until I was leaving the market that I noticed the lovely Manilla mangos begging to join the party. I obliged.

Apricot Mango Creme Brulee Tart

Tart Crust:

1 1/4 cups of flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

3-5 tbs ice coldwater

Apricot Mango Filling:

1 cup chopped apricots

1 cup chopped mango

1/4 cup of honey

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Custard:

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup of sugar

1 1/4 cup of heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp slt

1/4 cup granulated sugar for brulee crust topping

In a food processor, combine the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the cubes of butter and process until combined, about 1-2 minutes. Your dough should resemble course meal. Start with 3 tbs of water, pulse until combined. If the crust doesn’t hold together add more water, a bit at a time, until it does. Dump the dough into a tart pan with a remove-able bottom. Starting with the sides, form the crust inside the pan, trying your best to make it all as even as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for a least 3 hours (don’t even think about skipping this step).

Heat your oven to 375.

Once your tart is all chilly cold, remove from the fridge and poke holes in it with a fork.

Place a sheet of parchment paper inside your tart and fill with pie weights. If you don’t have any, dried beans work great. Just don’t forget which beans you’ve used as pie weights and accidentally try to make soup out of them later.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until your tart is a light golden brown.

In a pot over medium heat, combine the apricots, mango and the honey. Sprinkle with the cornstarch and stir. If you hate mangos, or apricots or maybe have an undying love for one or the other, this recipe is easily altered. You need 2 cups of chopped stone fruit, you can use whatever ratio of each that you want or 2 full cups of either. You can even sub in some peaches if you wanna get craaaazy. Cook the fruit, stiring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until it is thick and the fruit is broken down a bit. Add to the bottom of the tart crust.

In a bowl, combine the yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar and whisk until light and frothy. In a pot, combine the cream, salt and vanilla and heat until steamy but not boiling. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. While you whisk the eggs, slowly, slowly add the cream, whisking until combined. If there are any lumps or "eggy bits" in your cream mixture (possibly because you didn’t let your cream cool down) strain the custard through a mesh strainer. Pour into the tart shell on top of the fruit.

Bake at 300 degrees until the edges are set and the middle is still wobbly (it will continue to set as it cools) about 40-45 minutes. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and keep cold until ready to serve. Just before serving, top the tart with an even layer of granulated sugar. Pass the flame of a kitchen torch slowly and evenly over the tart until it’s liquified and a light amber colored. Serve immediately. The sugar crust will start to break down after about an hour.

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Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops with a Mango Sriracha Coulis

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A few years ago I found an article in Cooks Illustrated about why I wasn’t able to get a restaurant quality taste out of my grocery store scallops. I had always assumed it my because I just didn’t have the cookin’ chops to compete with a restaurant chef. And while that may be true, it wasn’t the main reason my scallops lacked taste. Here is my Scallops lesson of the day:
Wet vs. Dry
If you buy scallops at the grocery store, they will be wet 99% of the time. This is bad. It means that someone decided to saturate them in a solution of water and phosphates. Because of this, the scallops have a difficult time browning and they have a slightly soapy taste and rubbery texture. If you have a great seafood market, ask if they have dry scallops. If they aren’t sure, the scallops are probably wet. A dry scallop will be, well..dry. If it is sittin’ in a bowl of milk liquid, it’s a wet guy.
I’ll just assume that ya’ll have wet scallops, since that is what is most commonly available, but if you can find dry, buy them. The taste difference is huge (at least to me).
Ingredients

1 quart of water
1/4 cup of lemon juice
2 tbs Kosher or Sea salt
8 jumbo scallops (10-20 per lb size, the little guys just don’t hack it)
2 tbs butter
8 slices of prosciutto
1 tsp-ish of black pepper
1/2 cup fresh, diced mango
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp siracha
pinch or salt
Combine the water, lemon juice and 2 tbs of salt in a bowl and soak the scallops for 30 minutes (if you are 100% bet your $20 worth of seafood on it sure that they are dry, skip this step). Remove the scallops and place them on a stack of about 4 absorbent paper towels, then top them with  more paper towels and press down slightly. Allow the scallops to drain and dry for about 10 minutes. In a sauce pan, melt the butter on medium high until very hot. Fold a slice of prosciutto in half the long way and wrap around your scallop (you can also cut it in half to make two long strips if you’d like) securing with a tooth pick.
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Season the top and bottom of your scallops with pepper. Once the pan is hot, add 4 scallops to the pan (you don’t want to crowd the pan or your scallops will never brown) and cook for about 4 minutes, then turn over and cook on the other side for an additional 4 minutes or until the top and bottom both have a nice brown sear.
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in a food processor, combine the mango, olive oil, honey, siracha and a pinch of salt and puree until smooth.
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Top the scallops with the coulis and enjoy.
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