Did you know that June is National Mango Month? The Statesman takes part in the fruity celebrations with a bunch of mango-centric recipes, plus a dairy-free ice cream.
A local cancer survivor shares a bean-free recipe for Chicken and Rice.
Grilled pizzas are definitely the new fad. Now Austin jumps on the bandwagon.
Annie's Cafe and Bar gets a makeover, moving from boxed lunches to catering and breakfast, lunch and dinner, farm-to-table-style.
Some of you may already know that I enjoy eating the occasional gloriously messy mango whilst perched over the sink. As you can see from the above pic, that's not the only way I like to savor this supremely refreshing tropical fruit.
Years ago a friend hipped me to the practice of sprinkling my mango with salt and hot sauce. His wife was from Guyana and she always had a bottle of homemade Scotch bonnet pepper sauce. Actually it wasn't so much a sauce as a fiery mix of chopped bright orange and yellow peppers floating in vinegar. This wasn't the first time I encountered this combination though. Back in my college days me and some friends used to have contests to see who could eat the most Patak's mango pickle. Straight out of the jar, mind you, with little more accompaniment than pappadam.
Something about this shot struck a deep Pavlovian chord within me. It could be that it's so humid in New York City these days that the very idea of indulging in a citrusy, summery mangolicious dessert is positively refreshing. Or it could be that mangoes are just downright sexy. Most likely it's a combination of all these things.
Either way Nook & Pantry's Mango Lime Curd Tart is a decidedly more elegant way to eat mangoes than my usual method, which involves standing over the sink and slurping. Plus, this tart adds the bracing flavor of lime curd. It's enough to make me want to take up baking. If you feel the same way, click here for the recipe.
Seems like every food mag is doing a travel issue these days, and Bon Appetit is no exception. Their "Where To Eat Now" cover story focuses on France, Italy, Australia, and Spain.
If you had asked me 15 years ago what I thought the healthiest foods were, I probably would have said salad, pasta, bread, rice, and water. If you had asked me 35 years ago, I probably would have said Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Quisp cereal, pretzels, Pepsi, and Sara Lee pound cake.
We all know better now, of course (for example, Sara Lee pound cake should only be eaten 20 or so times a week), but do we really know what the healthiest foods are? We've talked a lot about healthy foods before, but never like what you'll see after the jump...in video form! The video isn't the best quality, and waiting 30 seconds for the next food to be listed is rather annoying, but the info is interesting. Besides, it's like a game. You can take those 30 seconds to place bets with your friends! What will be next in the video...apricots? Avocados? Broccoli? Read on...
Although research is still in preliminary stages, early results from a University of Queensland study presented at the Australian Health and Medical Research Congress indicated that compounds in mangoes may offer some surprising health benefits. They seem to act on the "same pathways that diabetes and cholesterol drugs target," blocking or activating receptors known as "peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors." These receptors play key rolls in people with diabetes and high cholesterol, but are also being linked with some types of cancer. If the mango compounds do target them, it is possible that the fruits could ease the effects of diabetes and high cholesterol, or even be able to combat cancerous cells.
The name "nutritional bioactive" is given to the unique components of fruits and vegetables that have particular health effects and study of these bioactives has been primarily directed at temperate, highly common fruits and vegetables (broccoli, etc). The researchers at Queensland have focused on tropical fruits, which is what led to their current findings.
Fruit tarts make a lovely, tasty dessert during the summer, in no small part because fresh fruit and berries are incredibly beautiful and the presentation is hard to beat. The fresh fruit choices for tarts don't have to be limited to raspberries and strawberries, as Fanny from Food Beam illustrates with her stunning Mango Tart, which was derived from Bill Granger's recipe in Sydney Food. The tart has a crumbly shortcrust base, almost like a shortbread biscuit, and is filled with a creamy, vanilla custard. The fresh, ripe mangoes are sliced into thin strips and layered on top, their flavor blending with the smooth custard and their texture contrasting nicely with the shell of the tart. Since the tart base can be prepared in advance, this is a relatively simple dessert that would make a lovely addition to any meal on a hot day. And if you can't resist using some more traditional berries, you can easily substitute them for the mango in this recipe.
Sure, a pact on nuclear energy is probably the most noteworthy thing to come of President Bush's recent visit to India. But, as far as food is concerned, it looks like the president's trip may yield some new fruit in U.S. markets. Until now, Indian mangoes were not allowed to be imported into the U.S. because they had not undergone a pest risk analysis. After a recent meeting with Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portmann suggested that America's ban on Indian mangoes may soon be lifted. This attempt to kindle trade relations means that we may soon have access to what are said to be some of the best mangoes in the world, including the famed king alphonso variety.