Grilled Mango-Habanero Salsa
Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, but not when it comes to grilled and roasted salsas! I love the combination of sweet fruit with hot peppers, and acidic tomatoes; mango is one of my favorite fruits to put in salsa. I know, that’s nothing new, but it is so good! Recently, in a moment of infatuation with our gas grill, and fear of the impending season change, I decided to roast and grill a load of tomatoes, peppers, garlic and mango and make some salsa.
I had accumulated a huge selection of tomatoes from my garden and our CSA-Red Zebras, Green Zebras, red slicers, yellow slicers and pear tomatoes. I plopped those on the grill, and then picked a jalapeno, an aji amarillo and a habanero from my garden and placed those next to the tomatoes. A large clove of homegrown garlic that had been drying in my kitchen joined them.
Finally, I peeled and thinly sliced two mangos and put the slices on the grill. The flesh of the tomatoes and peppers charred slightly and the tomatoes began to exude delicious juice. After rotating them a few times, I took them from the grill and set them in a bowl, amazed at the rich colors and divine smell that they produced. Honestly, the simple flavors of roasted fruits and vegetables makes my heart sing in a way that nothing else can.
The smell of roasted peppers hung in the air and I quickly plopped them in the bowl along with the tomatoes. The mango caramelized nicely on each side, and the flavor grew more intense and earthy. How do I know? You think I let that mango go straight into the bowl? No way!
With all of those delicious fresh ingredients I decided to keep the rest of the salsa simple-a handful of cilantro, some fresh garlic, lime and salt. After feeding it (accompanied by pulled Willow Creek pork) to some good friends who came to celebrate my husband’s birthday, I still had enough salsa left to feed an army. I quickly canned it last night, hoping to preserve some of summer’s flavor and bounty for those cold days to come. I’m glad we have some summer left (still pesto and salsa verde to make!) but fall, I’m (almost) ready for you!
Grilled Mango-Habanero Salsa
- 12 or so tomatoes of varying sizes, plus some cherry tomatoes for fun.
- 2 mangos, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch thick slices.
- 2 cloves garlic, 1 roasted, 1 crushed
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 habanero
- 1 aji chile
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- juice of 1 or 2 limes
Method
Wash tomatoes and remove stems.
Grill for about 6-10 minutes, turning as neccesary until skin starts to split.
Grill mango slices the same amount of time, turning once.
Grill peppers until skin blackens and blisters a bit, turning once also. Takes about 10 minutes, but may need a bit longer.
Put 1 clove of garlic on grill with skin still on about 10 minutes, ’til soft. Turn once.
Put cilantro in food processor and pulse until chopped finely.
Put tomatoes in processor, half at a time, and pulse until just chopped.
Peel peppers if you wish, de-seed and add to processor. Start with ½ habanero at a time*
Coarsely chop mango and add to tomatoes, along with roasted garlic, in processor and pulse again until
it is chunky.
Squeeze fresh garlic, lime (start with one) and salt and pulse again.
Mix all together to taste.
Enjoy with pork, or chips or anything else you like.
*Use gloves when cutting habanero as it is very hot and will burn skin.