A Quick and Easy Dinner Menu for a Busy Night, Chicken with Mango Salsa

By Diane Watkins

This is a simple chicken breast, topped with a medium-hot mango salsa. Use a ripe mango for this salsa, it should yield to a gentle pressure.  You can control the heat in the salsa by adding more or less hot pepper. If you want it very mild, eliminate the hot chili pepper and substitute a red bell pepper.

The chicken cooks very quickly if you pound them thin. You could also use chicken tenders for a quick cooking alternative. If you don’t want to pound, just use fresh chicken breasts and cook longer.

The Menu

Chicken with Mango Salsa
Rice Pilaf
Spring Greens with Cherry Tomatoes

Start the rice pilaf first, unless you are using instant, it will take longer than the chicken.

Mango Chicken

4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
garlic salt

1. Skin and bone chicken, trim off all visible fat.
2. Lay one chicken breast half on a flat surface lined with plastic wrap.
3. Place another piece of plastic wrap onto chicken breast.
4. Pound chicken thin with the flat side of a mallet or the bottom of a bottle by hitting downward onto the chicken then sliding the bottle or mallet outward to the edge. The next blow goes outward in the opposite direction, until the chicken is evenly thin all around. Not a lot of force is needed, most of the thinning is done by the outward slide. This should not take but a minute per chicken breast. If you don’t want to pound the breasts, then just cook them a little longer until done.
5. Season the chicken breasts with garlic salt.
6. Heat the butter and olive oil in a sauté pan. Saute the chicken in the butter and oil until cooked. Remove to a warm plate or platter.
7. Top with mango salsa and serve. I place the chicken on a bed of rice pilaf, then top with the mango salsa.

Mango Salsa

2 cups diced fresh or canned mango pulp
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper (green is ok, but red looks nicer)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 hot chili pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cumin

Combine all ingredients, blend well. Allow flavors to blend while chicken cooks.

Serve with a salad of spring greens, cherry tomatoes, and your favorite dressing along side a rice pilaf.