King of Fruits and Fruit of Kings

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Southern Sunrise

Color of lemon, mango, peach,
These storybook villas
Still dream behind
Shutters, thier balconies
Fine as hand-
Made lace, or a leaf-and-flower pen-sketch.

Tilting with the winds,
On arrowy stems,
Pineapple-barked,
A green crescent of palms
Sends up its forked
Firework of fronds.

A quartz-clear dawn
Inch by bright inch
Gilds all our Avenue,
And out of the blue drench
Of Angels' Bay
Rises the round red watermelon sun.

Sylvia Plath (1956)

This week, I've chosen another tropical fruit to go out on a limb with, although not intentionally. I just happened to walk into the market at the right time and come upon this absolutely gorgeous globe of colour. I realized that while I'd eaten mangoes by themselves, I'd never incorporated them into a recipe, and I wanted to rectify that immediately.

Of course, the possibilities are endless- curries, chutneys, pickles, sauces, all manner of desserts, even a cocktail or two.  I'll have to decide and be quick about it; sitting in my fruit bowl isn't doing it any favours. I'm leaning towards a savoury dish, but a pudding may win out in the end.

N.B. My thanks go to Santos over at The Scent of Green Bananas  for inspiring the above photo with her nicely composed shot of white peach sherbert with white peach halves and blackcurrant coulis, which sounds, as well as looks, quite lovely.

Comments

[santos]

hi moira
thanks for the nod, but i think your photo stands on its own merit. i just saw bigmouth strikes again aka $40 a day with rachael ray, and she was in a mexican restaurant in maui where they served her a most delious sounding cocktail with a stupid name: the mananatini, which is basically a mix of vodka, mango puree, citrus juice and ginger beer. i'd like to try this one, even without the vodka.

[rowena]

Now you know that you just reminded me of home in the islands? ;-) Yummmm...mangoes. I tried the ones here (coming in from Brazil I believe) and they are too....stringy and tough. I ended up slicing one into thin slivers and adding them, along with a few pomegranate pips into a glass of prosecco. Soooooo good! Even at 2 in the afternoon.....!

Still got zip on SHF...I need to buckle down and focus!

[Moira]

Santos- that cocktail does sound very interesting...I'll have to see how what the quality of the flesh is like, and then decide whether to puree it or not.

Rowena- What a bummer that it was stringy and tough! But I guess making a cocktail as a consolation prize isn't the worst thing I've ever heard...it's definitely what I'll do if mine ends up the same.

[rowena]

Okay, so I bought the puff pastry (there is no way I will do it from scratch) and maybe this weekend, I can think of something.

The thing with the mango....I was just unlucky, because my mother-in-law gave us a mango in a fruitbasket for Xmas and it was perfect!! I suppose it's hit or miss with the fruit vendors here.

[Moira]

Well, I'll find out about the mango tomorrow morning. I will be very sad if it's stringy!

Good luck with the puff pastry...let me know what you end up making.

[Kimberly]

That's a lovely photo, Moira! I still remember my first mango, perfectly ripe, eaten from a lover's hand on a snowy night in Boston.

[Moira]

Oh, thank you so much Kimberly! And thanks for sharing your wonderful memory as well...