In the kitchen where I work, we use a lot of roasted red peppers. This time of year, they’re abundant and cheap and even if I don’t know what I plan to do with them, just having them around offers plenty of inspiration. They routinely end up in everything from soups to salads.

Tonight, I paired up our grilled salmon with a mango and roasted red pepper salsa. The salsa was as lovely to look at as it was to eat: brilliant red peppers, the vivid gold of firm, just-ripe mango, green onions, and cilantro. Even better, with a food processor it was incredibly easy.

2 large red bell peppers
2 Kent or Tommy Atkins mangos
1 jalapeño pepper
2 scallions
½ bunch cilantro
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Roast or grill the red peppers and the jalapeño. (Grilling is more fun, but you have to watch them to make sure they don’t incinerate. Roasting is far less stressful.) Once the peppers are done, place them in a tightly sealed container or even a plastic bag and let the steam loosen the skins.

Slice the mangos, removing the stones and dicing the flesh.

Chop the scallions and cilantro.

Once the peppers have cooled, peel off the skins and scrape the seeds from the inside if you haven’t done that already.

Combine the red wine vinegar, cumin, and olive oil in a separate bowl and have ready to add to the salsa ingredients.

Toss the peppers, scallions, and cilantro into the bowl of the food processor and pulse a few times. Now add the liquid ingredients and pulse again. Remember, you’re going for a colorful assemblage of chunky ingredients, not soup.

Salt and pepper to taste.

In hindsight, this would be pretty good with roasted chicken, or even tortilla chips and an ice cold beer.

Did you know one cup of red bell pepper contains up to 93% of your Vitamin A requirements for one day, and more than 300% of your requirements for Vitamin C? Did you also know that green bell peppers and red bell peppers are the same thing? Green bell peppers are simply the unripened version. They have a grassy, herbal taste that complements tomatoes quite nicely.

Topics: recipe , roasted red peppers , mango , salsa

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