dinner yesterday
We got some mangoes on sale at Whole Foods the other day, and they were so ripe and delicious I couldn't think of anything but mango salsa. So that's what I had to make for our friends when they came over for supper yesterday. Since salsa isn't really a main dish it was lucky we also had some chicken breasts (free range organic chicken from ButcherBox!). I figured maybe I could manage some sort of pulled chicken for tacos, and was disappointed when an internet search turned up lots of recipes that started with, "Take a roast chicken...". Then I got over it and did just that, except I cooked the breasts in the skillet before shredding them and mixing in some adobo sauce and garlic powder.
For the mango salsa I did two mangoes, half a cucumber, cilantro, lime juice, and a big spring onion from the garden. I also made tomato salsa for those with more traditional tastes. And coconut rice—an Indian-y recipe from the Moosewoods cookbook, but one that seemed like it would go with mango—and plain rice. And then some flour tortillas. Oh, and some sour cream mixed with cilantro and lime juice. Rhubarb crisp with whipped cream for desert.
It was actually kind of an ambitious menu, considering I was also in charge of the kids and the cleaning with Leah at work. And Harvey came down with a little fever towards the end of the afternoon so he was in bed rather than helping rally the troops to clean up their toys. So we didn't get quite magazine-clean, and I kind of ignored the boys—fine, two were playing outside and one was dozing in bed—and I still wasn't ready when folks showed up ready to eat. Good thing they're old friends and were willing to make themselves at home while I finished up. I like to think the meal was worth the wait.. I enjoyed it, anyway.
Looking back, I've come a long way from the first time I made mango salsa way back in 2004. What an innocent I was; I didn't even have a clear sense of what a mango looked like back then. And I certainly didn't know how to cook. I'm a little better now. I wonder what I'll be making in 2026?