Nothing says summer quite like mangoes! You can instantly perk up any recipe with this delicious fruit. But do you know the secret to picking the right one? “The Chew’s” Clinton Kelly joined me recently to dish on how to pick the perfect mango and he also shared some of his favorite mango dishes including a scrumptious mango salsa!
How To Make Summer Food Fun
Candace Rose Anderson: How can we easily make our summer food more stylish and fun?
Clinton Kelly: “You can make your summer food more stylish and fun with the help of a fresh mango. They are delicious and bright and they will take a boring recipe and all of a sudden transform it into something delicious.”
How To Pick The Perfect Mango
Candace Rose Anderson: What makes mangoes the perfect summer fruit and how do we find the perfect one?
Clinton Kelly: “They’re readily available, so that’s really nice. And they can be incorporated into so many recipes that you’re kind of familiar with.
When it comes to looking for a mango, don’t worry so much about the color. A mango can be green or yellow or red, even a little orange or a combination of all of those things. You judge a mango’s ripeness by how firm it is. You give it a little squeeze like you would an avocado or a peach; if there’s a little bit of a give that means that your mango is ripe and ready to use. If your mango is still hard, you can put it on the kitchen counter for a couple of days and it’ll automatically ripen on its own.
A lot of people get intimidated by the mango that when they get home they don’t know what to do. It’s super easy to deal with! You want to look for the eye or the nose of the mango. It’s just basically just a little indentation or a bump actually that looks like a nose. You put it on the cutting board (its nose facing your nose), and then about a half an inch or so to the right and left the mango just go straight down with the sharp knife and then you get two great mango cheeks. While it’s still in the skin (you don’t have to peel it) you just cut it in strips for mango slices or crosshatch for a mango dice. And then just take a spoon and scoop it and it can be used in a delicious mango salsa that I can show you to make.”
Clinton Kelly Shares His Mango Salsa Recipe
Candace Rose Anderson: I’d love it!
Clinton Kelly: Okay great- You just take your diced mango, and to that you just add some diced avocado and you throw that in there with some red pepper, red onion and for a little bit of heat I’ve got some jalapeno here. You can use Serrano as well, and also some cilantro for a little bit of brightness and some chili powder And the recipe for this is on Mango.org by the way, as well as lots of other wonderful recipes. You also add a vinaigrette of lime juice/lime zest and olive oil. You just stir this all together and you let these flavors basically marry for the next five or ten minutes, and it just comes out so wonderfully. It’s a bright salsa you can use on nachos. You can put this on top of fish tacos or you can put it on top of a grilled chicken breast.”
How Clinton Kelly Started Cooking
Candace Rose Anderson: So how did you get interested in cooking?
Clinton Kelly: “I got interested in cooking over the past 10 years. I’ve been nesting for a little while so I’ve just been spending my time cooking and decorating. I’ve been cooking for years and now I’m on “The Chew”. I’m having a blast every single day.”
Candace Rose Anderson: Do you have any additional tips or information you’d like to share with us?
Clinton Kelly: “You can go to Mango.org for all sorts of tips on mangoes and some delicious mango recipes.”
