The hot, hazy, lazy days of summer call for salads. It's only natural. Who wants to spend hours or even minutes slaving over a hot kitchen (even with air conditioning) when the humidity and temperature outside are sucky? The salad given below is called (giving a nod to the weather) a "tropical salad." Why is is tropical? Simple; it contains fresh mangoes---and a splash or rum for vigor.
I like ripe fresh mangoes. I enjoy them as a snack, a dessert, and my favorite concoction: chunks of mango in a round champagne glass with sparkling champagne poured over the mango. It's a scrumptious, sexy way to start the or end the evening. The recipe given does not contain champagne. It's a typical salad for a hot summer day, and it's from my second cookbook, The Pharaoh's Feast (Four Walls Eight Windows); also published in the UK as Feasting with the Ancestors (Sutton Publishing).
TROPICAL SALAD
1/2 bunch watercress
2 ounces fresh mango, peeled and cut julienne style into strips
2 ounces red onion, peeled and julienned into strips
2 ounces cucumber, peeled and julienned into strips
1 scallion, diced
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
4 tablespoons olive oil
Splash of white rum
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon fresh chopped mint
1. Rinse the watercress under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Place in a salad bowl and add the remaining ingredients, tossing all together.
Yield: 2 servings.
Photo: courtesy of Drizzle Oils
Labels: Black pepper, Cook, Four Walls Eight Windows, Fruit, Fruits and Vegetables, Home, Mango, Salad
