Tipnique of the week, September 13,2013

One of my favorite new faves is the sweet/tart/crisp/creamy combo of avocado, mango and cucumber in a summer salad. Whether it's alone, on a bed of salad greens, topped with slivered beef or chicken, it's amazing. Here's one way to do it, a version with a  slightly simpler dressing, and a lemon poppyseed dressing that works wonderfully well.
All these recipes call for diced mangoes- not an easy trick to pull off, mangoes being the slippery, gooey, drippy, delicious things they are. Here's a trick to make it easier:

1. Slice the side of the mango away from the seed.

2. Do the same thing on the other side of the seed. Now you have two mango cheeks ready to go. If you have a mango loving crew, give the seed to them to nibble on, or peel it and slice away the bits of mango around it.

3. score the mango cheek lengthwise and crosswise

 4. Turn the cheek inside out. The cubed mango will fan out beautifully, and you can use it just as it is the next time you find yourself thinking "wow, if only I had a fab garnish, I'd make a fancy fruit platter thingy".

or you can

5. Slice the cubes away from the skin straight into the salad bowl.

Awesome!