Dishing Up Multipurpose Mangos

While most people are familiar with mangos, many still don't cook with them at home.

However, Daisy Martinez, host of Food Network's "Viva Daisy!" believes those folks are missing out.

Mangos, she said on "The Early Show" Tuesday, are a truly versatile food. And while they're delicious eaten with your hands, Martinez encourages home cooks to experiment a bit, adding mangos to salads, smoothies, cobblers and more.

Mangos are in-season now, and Martinez says you can often buy a package of six at major box stores for a really good price. Several varieties of mangos are available, and they come in a range of colors, she said, so don't use color to judge if the fruit is ripe. Instead, look for a fruit that feels heavy in your hand and has a bit of give when you press on it. Perhaps most importantly, though, Martinez says, "A good mango is very fragrant, smells floral, and makes your mouth water!"

Mangos have a large, elongated pit in the center, so you have to carefully cut around it when prepping the fruit for cooking.

RECIPES

Avocado Stuffed with Crab-Mango Salad

1 lime, zest finely grated, lime cut in 1/2
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 mango, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 cup)
1/3 cup diced (1/4-inch) red bell peppers
1/3 cup diced (1/4-inch) red onion
1/2 jalapeno, stemmed and cut into small dice (about 2 tablespoons)
1/2 pound jumbo lump crabmeat
3 Hass avocados

Squeeze the juice from 1 half of the lime into a bowl. Add the olive oil and cilantro and whisk well. Add the mango, red pepper, onion, jalapeno, and lime zest and toss to coat. Gently stir in the crabmeat to keep it from breaking up. Set aside while preparing the avocados.

Cut the avocados in half and remove pit. Squeeze the remaining lime half over the avocado flesh, using the lime half to spread it evenly, in order to keep them from turning black.

Toss the crab salad, check for seasoning, and mound into the avocado halves, dividing it evenly. (Use an ice cream scoop for neat, even rounds, if that's your thing.) Serve right away.

TIP: To keep the avocado from sliding around the plate, cut a thin sliver of skin from the rounded side before filling the avocados. That flat portion will help keep the avocado steady on the plate.

Variation: For a more dramatic presentation (one more suitable for a sit-down dinner party than a weeknight supper, perhaps) present the salad as a "stack," that is, layer the ingredients in a ring mold (similar to a biscuit cutter without the handle). Instead of serving the salad in the pitted avocado, peel and pit the avocados, then cut them into 3/4-inch dice. Toss them with a little lime juice to keep them from turning dark. Make the crab salad. Place the ring mold over the center of the plate and put the equivalent of half a diced avocado in an even layer in the mold. Tamp it down gently. Top with one-sixth of the crab salad and tamp down gently. Lift the mold carefully and the ingredients will remain in place on the plate.

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Prep Time:
Ease of preparation: easy

Breaded Pork Chops

8 (1-inch thick) loin pork chops (about 4 pounds)
Fine sea or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
Canola or vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels. Season both sides generously with salt and pepper. Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl until foamy. Spread the flour and bread crumbs out in 2 separate shallow bowls. Dredge a chop in the flour to coat all sides. Tap off any excess flour. Coat a chop with egg and let it drain for a second or so over the bowl. Lay it in the bread crumbs and turn a couple of times, patting the crumbs onto the chop to adhere. Set the chop on a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chops.

Pour 1/2-inch of canola oil into a large, wide skillet. Heat over medium heat until the tip of the handle of a wooden spoon gives off a lively sizzle (about 375 degrees F). Add half the pork chops to the oil and cook, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes. Transfer to an 11 by 15-inch baking dish or any baking dish that holds all the chops snugly, overlapping them along 1 side of the pan. Repeat with the remaining chops. Bake until no trace of pink remains near the bone, about 25 minutes. Serve right away with the Mango and Black Bean Salad.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ease of preparation: easy

Mango and Black Bean Salad

This is a delicious way for me to sneak more fruit and vegetables into our family dinners. More than a 15-minute side dish, this can be dressed this up by spooning it into a radicchio-leaf cup for a first course, complement the next batch of salmon fillets or steaks off the grill, or taken along on your next picnic.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
Kosher or fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 mango, peeled, flesh removed from the pit and cut into 1/2-inch dice (1 generous cup)
1/2 small jicama (about 1/2 pound), peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 2 cups; see Note)
1/2 small red onion, cut in 1/2, then into thin slivers (about 1/4 cup)

Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, and cilantro together in a large bowl until blended. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the beans, mango, jicama, and onion and toss gently to coat with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve right away or let stand at room temperature for up to 30 minutes. Toss and check the seasoning before serving.

Note: If you can't find jicama, which adds an apple-y note to the salad, substitute a large green apple. Core the apple, leave the skin on, and dice it as you would the jicama.

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy

Cleriquot

Cleriquot is the Argentine cousin to white sangria. I can tell you that my White Sangria recipe in "Daisy Cooks!" is a killer, and I am crazy proud of it, but after tasting a particularly delicious pitcher of cleriquot at the Pizzeria Meriole in Buenos Aires. I came home and was inspired enough to venture away from my standard recipe, and I think you'll agree that this is almost too delicious! I like to have the ingredients well chilled so I don't dilute it with ice. You can, of course, add ice if you like. It makes a great ice-breaker at a dinner party where some of the guests haven't met some of the others.

1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup water
1 (750 ml) bottle sparkling Rose Brut, chilled
1 cup peach vodka, chilled (recommended: Absolute)
1 1/2 cups sparkling water, chilled
1 mango, peeled, pitted, and cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1 peach, peeled, pitted, and cut in 1/2-nch cubes
1 cup raspberries
1 lime

Dissolve the superfine sugar in 1/4 cup water and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Pour the sugar mixture into a large pitcher and add the Rose Brut, vodka, and sparkling water. In a medium bowl combine the fruit and the lime juice and add to the pitcher. Serve chilled in wine glasses.

Toast me!

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour
Ease of preparation: easy

Boriqua Sunset - Passion Fruit and Mango Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

When my children were small, they would love to hear stories of my summers in Puerto Rico visiting my grandmother Clotilde, and how my cousins and I would climb to the roof of the house to gather mangos and avocados the size of footballs. I was able to travel to Puerto Rico with my family a few years ago, and was contentedly sipping a passion fruit cocktail on the beach in Rio Mar, watching my kids frolic in the water as the sun was setting. The sky appeared to be ablaze and was beautiful enough to take my breath away. I reached over and took Jerry's hand and felt delirious happiness. When I came home, I came up with this recipe as part of a romantic dinner. Its colors remind me of the sunset on that incredibly happy evening. Needless to say, Jerry totally got it!

Panna Cotta:
3/4 cup water, plus 1/4 cup
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon gelatin
1 1/2 cups mango puree
1/2 cup passion fruit puree
2 cups heavy cream
Raspberry Sauce, recipe follows

Heat 3/4 cup water and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is boiling. Remove from the heat.

Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup cool water in a small bowl. Let stand until softened, then stir into the sugar syrup until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Stir the mango puree, passion fruit puree, and heavy cream together in a large bowl. Stir in the gelatin mixture thoroughly. Divide the mixture among 8 (6-ounce) ramekins or custard cups. Set the filled cups on a tray, cover them all with a single sheet of plastic wrap and chill until completely set, at least 4 hours. The panna cotta may be made up to a day in advance.

To serve, invert each ramekin or custard cup over a dessert plate. Wait a few seconds and the panna cotta will slip right out and onto the plate. Spoon some of the raspberry sauce around each serving and pass the remaining sauce separately.

Yield: 8 individual panna cotta
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 4 to 24 hours
Ease of preparation: intermediate

Raspberry Sauce:
1 (10-ounce) bag frozen raspberries
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 lime, juiced or more, if desired

Heat the raspberries, sugar, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan, over low heat, until simmering and the sugar is dissolved. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a small bowl, scraping the fruit with the back of a spoon to pass as much sauce through while keeping the seeds and pulp behind. Stir in lime juice, to taste.

Yield: about 1 cup