Happy Thursday, friends.
The east coast is on fire, or at least it smells like it is.
Oh, and sex with a t-shirt on is still hot. #justiceforariana
You all knew I couldn’t write on a Thursday without at least one mention of VPR, right?
When I first started this Salt, with Soul venture, I was just winging the recipes. I had an arsenal of noms that I wanted to share, but now that we’re a year into this- I want to push my own boundaries with what I’m cooking, too. It’s exciting to want to be better at something, just because it brings you joy.
My goal is to share recipes where you can use ingredients for more than one item, where you don’t have to go out and find that “one special sauce” that costs $34 and you’ll never use again. In an ideal world, I’m slowly teaching you to shop for the week so that you can open your fridge and just whip something up.
Make cooking fun again.
If that’s the heartbeat of Salt, than this weeks recipe is in perfect alignment. This salsa can be used with jicama and served vegetarian, or with any sort of meat, really. For the purpose of the photo, we’ll be using Pork Belly (I love the $6 pork belly from Trader Joes, but I haven’t always cooked it right. This week, I nailed it.)
So, let’s get into it!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Diced ripe mango (I used the pre-cut one from trader joes and diced it down!)
1 bell pepper, chopped
½ cup chopped red onion
¼ cup packed fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
3 Limes (if they’re on the smaller side), juiced
2 Lemons, juiced
Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder
Pork Belly (about 10 oz for two)
shredded cheese (I’m a thicc cut fan, but the choice is yours)
Corn Tortillas
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER:
Preheat your oven to 385 degrees for the pork belly.
In a bowl, mix together your diced mango, bell pepper, red onion, jalapeño and mint leaves. Throw your citruses the microwave for 30 seconds (it loosens the juice) and then squeeze your lime and lemon over the bowl. Toss together, season with salt, pepper, and chili powder. Let it sit and marinade.
Take your pork belly, salt both sides (I’d suggest a sea-salt) and then chop it into bite size pieces. On a cooking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and bake your pork belly bites for 20 minutes.
While that’s cooking, take a cast iron pan and heat on high with no moisture, no fat. Just pan. Once hot, start heating up your corn tortillas. Simply let them sit for 20 seconds on each side and then pull them off.
When the pork belly is finished cooking, take your tortilla, and assemble your taco!
Viola, it’s like a summer vacation in your mouth.
There’s a full video on our Instagram (@) salt_withsoul so I hope you follow along!
As always, I’m grateful you’re here. I’m getting my stride more and more with this space, and I can’t aptly express how much fun it is to stretch myself and learn.
Each month, I donate 10% of sales from photography and merchandise to a charity of my choice, and to celebrate Pride, I made a special collection. 10% of all proceeds will be donated to the Trevor Project, in hopes that we can help continue their work. Visit www.saltwithsoul.com to see all our merchandise and help give back to a special cause.
For my friends who are also engulfed in the Canadian fire winds, please wear a mask and keep those kiddos and doggos inside as much as possible. In the thick of it yesterday, Marco literally ran from my truck to the door of our apartment building because he was so scared. I work out an old building, and I think the smoke smell became too much for him. It’s too much for all of us, really.
Enjoy the weekend and I’ll see you Monday for a little bit of Soul.