Go ManGo

We have a little mango tree on our property that has been laden with fruit this summer.

Mangoes are deeeelicious. 

I remember sitting on the beach at Byron Bay in a bikini one teenage summer (a looooong time ago) slurping fresh prawns and whole mangoes.

The essence of summer.

I have really relished fruit this season.

What is your favourite? Watermelon? Sweet pineapple? Juicy peaches?

Alas, our orchard full of stone fruit has gone to the birds.

But the mango tree up the back was a secret they didn’t discover!

A singular possum must have, because we found evidence each morning that one mango at a time was picked and eaten, leaving a clean seed stashed under a nearby tree.

I came up with quite a spectacular dish that combines all the yummy flavours capturing summer in a salad.

Arrange the following on the biggest prettiest platter you can find.

A mixture of greenery – Cos and Frilly lettuce, baby spinach and rocket leaves, avocado, chopped red capsicum, cherry tomatoes ( I halved some of those cute little orange ones) snow peas, diced cucumber and mango chunks. Blanched florets of broccoli plus chopped asparagus if you like too!

 Then sprinkle with roughly chopped toasted macadamia nuts.

Chicken breast fillets – I used three – slice and fry in a pan until nice and golden. If you find this dry, you could poach and shred the chicken.

Set the chicken aside. Using the frypan, stir in a squidge of lemongrass, a generous squirt or two of ginger (you can find tubes of these in the veggie section at the supermarket) then add the juice and zest of a fresh lime. Stir in half a cup of coconut cream too if you like and add salt to taste.

Mix well over low heat, then stir in the chicken and leave to cool and marinate as it soaks up the sauce.

Drizzle and plop the saucy chicken over the salad. It messes it up a bit to toss, but it mixes the flavours better. Wait for people to admire it suitably, then toss it and serve it up!