Mango Salad with Spicy Lime Pepita Dressing

This is my favorite Spring salad, and cements my undying love for the culinary genius that is Rick Bayless. His cookbook Mexican Everyday, is definitely one of the few cookbooks I own that I’ve cooked multiple recipes out of. Living in Chicago, we’ve been lucky enough to eat in his restaurants, but I prefer the simpler everyday recipes in this book to eating out. That braised pork shoulder I made a couple of months ago was Rick’s recipe and definitely a winner.

When you finish this salad, you just might want to lick the plate, to get every last drop of the spicy, tangy dressing. The salad is topped with chunks of ripe mango, crumbled bleu cheese, toasted pepitas, and either avocado or whatever leftover grilled or roasted meat you have on hand. In this case, we had some leftover chili-garlic paste rubbed skirt steak from the night before, so we topped the salad with that.

The dressing takes a little more work than your average vinaigrette, but is totally worth it. The dressing makes about a cup, which is good for about 6 entree salads.

Pepita Lime Salad Dressing
Makes 1 cup of dressing

1/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (from about 4-5 limes)
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
spoonful of chipotle puree, to taste
squeeze of honey, to taste
1/3 cup raw pepitas, toasted (some will be reserved to top the salad)

1. In a small pan, gently roast 4 cloves of garlic in the olive oil over very low heat. Cook until the cloves of garlic begin to soften, and get just a touch of golden color. Turn off the burner and set the oil aside.
2. While the garlic oil is cooking, toast the pepitas in another small pan, over medium heat. Shake the pan often so that they don’t burn. You’ll know they’re done when you start to hear the seeds start popping as they heat up – this takes about 5-10 minutes, depending on the size and freshness of the seeds. Set the toasted seeds aside.
3. Pour the fresh squeezed lime juice into a mini-food processor or blender, then pour in the garlic and oil. Puree until smooth. Add a small spoonful of chipotle puree and 2 T of the toasted pepitas, and puree until smooth. I like the dressing to be thicker than a regular vinaigrette, so if it’s still a bit thin, add another tablespoon of pepitas, and puree again. Next, add a squeeze of honey, and a half-teaspoon of salt – puree, taste, and adjust seasoning to your liking by adding more honey or salt.

To make the salad: toss the dressing with lots of greens (romaine, spinach, butter lettuce are good here), then top with cubes of ripe mango, some of the reserved pepitas, and some crumbled bleu cheese. The addition of meat is optional. Avocado is also a perfect topping, but Mark won’t eat it, so I usually go without.

Mango-ritas

If you’ve spent any time with us on our balcony overlooking the lake on a summer evening, you probably already know that margaritas are my signature drink, but not one that I generally order at a restaurant. I hate those cloyingly-sweet concoctions of high-fructose corn syrup and citric acid poured from a plastic jug that pass for margaritas in most establishments. When I want a margarita, I’m either getting it from someone credible like Rick Bayless, or more likely – mixing my own. And I make a fine margarita, if I do say so myself.

Mark’s family came to visit us this weekend, and brought the sunshine with them, so we spent as much time as possible outdoors enjoying the weather, so there wasn’t much kitchen activity this weekend. But the weather was so beautiful on Sunday, it inspired me to fire up the blender for the first margaritas of the season. And they were a perfect refreshment for a sunny afternoon at home.

I don’t like to spend a lot of time fussing around with squeezing limes, so I’ve taken a shortcut on my margarita prep. I simply cut the limes into eighths, and blend them in the blender for 10-20 seconds with 5 cups of water and then strain. Instant margaritas! Not only is this method easier, but by using the whole lime you get a different, earthier lime taste from all that zest whizzing around in the blender. The result is the taste of the whole lime, and a little less tart than straight lime juice.

I also sweeten the juice with agave nectar as I try to avoid sugar as much as I can. For this batch, I decided to add a tangerine and a peeled and diced mango to the mix, which added some extra sweetness, and decreased the amount of agave required. Enjoy!

Mango-ritas
Serves 8-10 cocktails

6 limes, washed and cut into eighths
1 tangerine, sliced in half, seeds removed, then cut into eighths (optional)
1 champagne mango, peeled, and diced, pit discarded (optional)
5 cups water
approx. 1/2 cup agave nectar
1 cup good quality tequila (or to taste)
1/2 cup triple sec

1. Get out a pitcher and sieve. Wash limes and cut each lime into 8 pieces. Wash tangerine, slice in half and remove seeds, then cut into 8 pieces. Place citrus in blender, add 5 cups of water, and blend for 10-20 seconds, until citrus is ground into small pieces. If you have a small, or less powerful blender, do this in 2 batches.
2. Place the sieve over your pitcher, and strain the contents of the blender into the pitcher. Rinse out the blender bowl. Add the diced mango to the now clean blender, and cover with some of the strained lime juice. Puree until smooth, then pour the lime/mango mixture into the pitcher with the remaining lime juice. Stir. Pour in the agave nectar, tequila, triple sec and stir until well combined.
3. Serve in cocktail glasses rimmed with salt and pour over ice. Enjoy outdoors, preferably with the sun shining above.