mangoes

The Mango Tango, pt 1

I was in Chicago for a conference last week (hello, good food!) when I got a delightful email from someone at Whole Foods all about mangoes, asking me if I’d like a free case of mangoes to see how many uses I could come up with for them.  Umm, YESYES I WOULD LIKE.  You should never turn down a mango.  Kumquats, sure, but never a mango.

 

 

  • Step One: Procure mangoes.
  • Step Two: Make (very long) list of tasty foods to make.
  • Step Three: Make noms.
  • Step Four: Eat noms.
  • Step Five: Write blog post

 

So that’s pretty much what’s been going on here.  I made the first dish last night–mango ice cream, and mango-ancho chili ice cream.  Why ice cream?  Because:

  • I got an ice cream maker for Christmas and have since gone a little ice-cream-making-mad.
  • It sounded delicious.
  • I had all the ingredients for that but none of the other items on my list and was too lazy to go to the store yesterday.

ice cream ingredients in a blender

It was really easy to make, too, which was a nice bonus.  It also got the most beautiful texture of any ice cream I’ve made thus far, I mean just absolutely gorgeous texture.  Pale yellow color, light and airy and silky.  The flavor was a very light, sweet, fruity flavor, super refreshing.  The kind of thing you really want on a hot day, y’know?  To experiment a bit more, I tried a few different add-ins: coconut, chili powder, ancho chili powder.

mango ice cream

The pure mango ice cream was my favorite.  The mango-coconut combination was Josh’s.  The chili powder was ok, but the ancho chili powder was pretty good, giving the ice cream an interesting, unexpected savory flavor.  Other mix-ins and toppings could include fresh mint or cilantro, strawberries, cashews, pecans, caramelized banana, candied bacon…really, anything.

mango ancho ice cream

Mango Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 2 ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted and chopped into chunks
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 cups very cold heavy cream
  • an ice cream maker of your choosing

Instructions

  1. Put the mangoes, lemon juice, brown sugar, honey, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the heavy cream and mix thoroughly.
  2. Freeze according to the instructors for your ice cream maker. Near the end of the freezing time, add in any of the mix-ins you'd like.
  3. For the ancho chili mango ice cream, I'd slowly add in ancho chili powder a tsp at a time until you get a flavor that's pleasing to you.
http://haveforkwilleat.com/2012/04/the-mango-tango-pt-1/

 

P.S. Put your leftover mango peels in a pot with 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar and boil…voilà! Mango simple syrup.  Strain and bottle. 

 

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