Best Ever Mango Salsa

Time: maybe 20 minutes plus overnight refrigeration Ease: very

This may be, perhaps, the yummiest salsa in the world. It is fabulous with chips, on grilled chicken, in fish tacos and for potlucks where it is quickly consumed. One of the best lessons to be learned from this recipe is how to cut a mango; knowing the correct way makes cutting one a whole new experience. In the South, you simply peel the mango and you sit out on the porch on a hot day and eat the mango whole, letting the juice drip down your chin. In the North, you hack randomly at the mango until it has been sufficiently tortured and mutilated. For cooking however, best to follow a few simply rules. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvLdPjpELyU&feature=related

The Recipe

2 mangoes, diced

2 tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/4 lb seedless purple or red grapes, cut in half

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1/2-1 jalapeno, seeded and finely minced

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1 lime

2 avocados (do not dice until the day after refrigeration)

Follow the instructions on dicing a mango and place the flesh in a small bowl. Add your seeded and diced tomatoes (it is VERY important to seed the tomatoes or you'll end up will a runny, goopy salsa), grapes, onions, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, cumin and salt but DO NOT add the the avocados yet. Cut your lime in half and squeeze the contents over the salsa mixture. Mix well but gently. Cover the salsa and place in the refrigerator overnight. This step can be omitted if pressed for time but the flavor is definitely better when allowed to marinated overnight.

After removing the salsa from the refrigerator, add the diced avocados. Taste the salsa and add more cumin, lime juice or salt as needed. See how easy that was?! OLÉ! or something like that.

Black Bean Breakfast Burritoes

Time: Maybe ten minutes. Difficulty: Easy peasy over easy

All I really have to say is: these are damn good burritos. They are high in fiber and protein and low in fat and, well, damn good. They are great to wrap up individually and freeze so you can just toss them in a microwave later. If you have picky eaters that won't eat beans, just leave them out and change the name of the recipe to "Breakfast Burritos." If you're like my friend Anna, who is vegetarian, just leave out the bacon. I could probably go along in this vein of "if you don't like..." but I'll stop with that. Be as creative as you want. Or as not creative as you want. Both are fine with me. I would like to say that this recipe calls for green chili sauce and that not all green chilies are created equal! Go ahead and buy the more expensive jar on this one: I promise it will be worth it. My favorite comes from a little diner in Durango, CO called Durango Green Chili. Seriously, the best ever. http://www.durangodiner.com/greenchili.htm

The Recipe

10-12 medium sized flour tortillas

1 onion, finely minced

2-4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

6 eggs, scrambled and salted and peppered

1/2 lb turkey bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

1 can or jar of your favorite green chili sauce

1 cup Parmesan, grated

Take the onion and garlic and saute in a tablespoon of olive oil over low heat until the onion begins to yellow and become transparent, remove from heat. Line the ingredients up in a little row like soldiers; this is your assembly line. Lay a tortilla flat on the counter and use a big tablespoon (the kind you eat cereal with) to spoon the ingredients onto the tortilla. It's very important that you place the ingredients at the edge of the tortilla that is closest to you; you are going to create a little pile of goodies that's about 3 inches long and two inches wide.

Spoon onto the tortilla: 2 tablespoons eggs, 1 tablespoon beans, 1 tablespoon garlic and onion mixture, 1 tablespoon bacon and 1 tablespoon green chili sauce. Put a few pinches of Parmesan on the top.

Now take the tortilla and gently fold it over the mixture and tuck it under just a bit. Fold both sides firmly over the top of this (not too firmly or you'll rip the tortilla) and roll the tortilla up into the classic burrito shape. If you don't know what this looks like, I would recommend brushing up on your Mexican food knowledge. Anyway, the key here is gently AND firmly.

If you're going to eat these right a way, you can place them in a covered baking dish and let them hang out in a 400* oven for about 20-25 minutes. If you're going to freeze them, I would suggest wrapping them in a bit of parchment paper and then in tin foil (the tin foil protects in the freezer but the parchment will still let you toss the burrito in the microwave if it sticks a bit to the wrapping) (I don't recommend trying that with foil). Start with about a minute for microwaving; remember that all microwaves vary ( I once had a microwave that only worked from time to time. It was like playing roulette every time I had to heat up my coffee) so start low and go up if you need to. Few things are creepier than over-microwaved tortillas.

Party Chicken

Time: a little over an hour. Ease: err... moderate

Otherwise known as Pollo Fiesta or simply, ghetto chicken.

I used to live in a ghetto. I loved it and I loved the food. My friends and I used to go after church to this rundown place in little Mexico, where we were the only white girls, and eat chicken to our heart's content. Sigh, even the picture with the jalapeno in the ranchero beans makes me all nostalgic. You would walk into the place and there was this grill that was about eight feet long, absolutely covered in bright orange chickens. When they came off the grill, crisp and greasy, you would eat them quartered with homemade tortillas slathered in guacamole, salsa and rice and beans. I would usually wash it down with horchata, but that's a different story for a different day.

The beauty of this recipe is that you really can make beautiful, moist, succulent chicken on your grill! And it doesn't take that long! And it's easy! It's a great summer recipe because you don't heat up the house to cook the chicken and, well, it's amazingly yummy. That too.

The recipe:

1 five lb whole chicken

4 Tbs olive oil

2 tsp salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp cumin

2 Tbs BBQ seasoning (your choice which kind but I like Masterpiece)

2 tsp white pepper

2 tsp turmeric (it's what makes it orange!)

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

Tortillas

Guacamole

Okay, take the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels both inside and out. Gently pull the skin away from the meat (but not severing it entirely) and pat dry underneath. And now my favorite: place the bird firmly on the counter top, put your hands together like you're about to do CPR and MASH the ribcage! CRACK! Flatten it as much as you can. Make a paste of your spices and oil and massage it into both the meat under the skin and over the top of the skin (because, let's face it, after having it's ribcage cracked, it needs a massage). You might want to wear gloves because it will turn your fingers a little bit orange. Okay, it will actually make you look like you colored your fingertips orange with Magic Markers.

Turn your grill up to high and let it get as hot as it will. Bring the chicken and turn off ONE of the flames, this is the side you are going to place the chicken on. Because chicken renders so much fat as it cooks, if you place it directly over the flame it WILL drip and cause flare up and turn into the most precious little bit of blackened meat. I will go ahead and confess that I speak from experience.

Place the chicken over the now deadened flame with the breast side up and legs facing the opposing flame (I promise I am NOT being to detail oriented... these little details are the difference between drippy succulence and dry sawdust). Close the lid and let grill for 40 minutes. After the elapsed time, turn the chicken over breat side down with the legs still facing toward the flame. Let the chicken grill for another 20 minutes. Check for doneness by pressing on the chicken: if the juices run clear, it's all done; if they run reddish, it needs a little more time to cook.

Once the chicken has cooled, I love to eat it in a tortilla with whatever is good in a chicken taco. My personal favorite will always be just avocados with a little salt, chicken and a warm tortilla. Oh, and margarita on the side, but that's also another story for another day

Summer Chicken Cutlet

Time: about 20 minutes

Difficulty: pretty easy

So. I've been asked a number of times to start a food blog (I promise I have). Here it is, beginning with a lovely, thinly pounded slice of chicken.

A cutlet is a thin slice of meat, often veal, that is baked or fried. I personally find that the meat invariably ends up tasting like fried chicken when it's fried, so I prefer to bake it. There are three important components to this dish: the meat, the salad and the dressing. It's very important that all the ingredients in this dish be super fresh. There is no one flavor in this recipe; all of the ingredients are showcased together. This is what makes it such a beautiful, summer recipe. I dug up big, fat heads of garlic at my mom's (seriously, there is NOTHING like fresh garlic, not even garlic), I snipped off the tops of my basil plants sunning happily on my balcony and then picked the reddest tomato ever. I didn't slaughter the chicken though, that came fresh from the freezer, cold but cheerful.

As for the recipe:

2 large chicken breasts

1 large egg, beaten

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I prefer Italian style)

1 ripe tomato, seeded and diced

1 package fresh basil (or if you're using your own, a great, big handful), chopped

1 head garlic (this is a head, mind you, not a clove)

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400*

Take the two chicken breasts and lay them on a cutting board. Cover the chicken with wax paper (or something comparable) and pound the chicken with a rolling pin (or heavy knife or brick or a small child, whatever's handy) until it's about 1/2 inch thin. Prepare three plates: one with the beaten eggs in it, one with the flour and one with the bread crumbs. Dip the chicken in the flour, then in the egg, then in the bread crumbs. Turn chicken over carefully to coat it as it's easy to end up with a wet, balled, bread-crumbed mess. Place the chicken on a non-stick baking sheet (or one that's been sprayed or coated with oil) and place in the oven for ten minutes.

In the meantime, peel all the cloves of garlic in the head and place them in a lightly oiled skillet on LOW for about 7 to 10 minutes, tossing occasionally (be careful and really pay attention, garlic burns quickly). The garlic should be softening and beginning to turn yellow when you take it off the burner. Combine the garlic, tomato and basil in a bowl and toss together.

The chicken has been in the oven for ten minutes and it's time to turn it over. Gently do so and allow it to bake another ten minutes.

Drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the salad and add salt until you like the flavor. I am a vinegar FREAK and could just drink the stuff, so I tend to overdo it a bit. I leave these things to your discretion.

When the chicken comes out of the oven, the coating should be nice and crispy; if it's not, put it under the broiler for about a minute. Put the chicken on a plate, top with salad (add more balsamic if you want) and have at it. This is pretty great served with penne or any type of pasta.

Easy peasy. The garlic in mine tonight is so good it made me weak in the knees.