Slow Down and Pick Some Lemons

Here's a nice video (courtesy of The New York Times) chronicling one Italian family's way of life—lemons!—that is diametrically opposed to the way most food production is handled. If this video doesn't slow us all down a bit, I don't know what will. (If you are receiving The Delicious Truth via email, click here to watch.) 

An Easy Asian Dish: Vietnamese Green Mango and Pork Salad

Here's an easy recipe for a full-flavored Asian dish—Vietnamese green mango and pork salad—that requires no crazy cooking skills and no ingredients that you have to travel to Hanoi to buy. 

Feel free to substitute ground chicken or ground turkey for the ground pork. Fish sauce can be found in most standard supermarkets. The following recipe, accompanied with brown rice and a vegetable, should serve six.

VIETNAMESE GREEN MANGO AND PORK SALAD
2                Green (unripe) mangoes, peeled and diced
2 tsp.          Salt (preferably unrefined sea salt)
1/3 cup       Lime juice
2 Tbs.         Olive or high-quality canola oil
2 to 3 Tbs.  Garlic, thinly sliced
2 to 3 Tbs.  Shallots, thinly sliced
1 tsp.         Crushed red pepper flakes
1.5 lbs.       Ground pork
To taste      Fresh ground pepper
¼ cup         Fish sauce
2 Tbs.         Brown sugar
4 Tbs.         Peanuts, chopped (for garnish)
2 Tbs.         Cilantro or parsley (for garnish)

Have Unripe Fruit? Let It Hang Out!

Whenever I buy fruit that needs more ripening time (avocados, mangos, etc.), I try to let the fruit hang out (literally) instead of resting on a plate. This avoids the development of soft spots which, if you forget to turn the fruit daily, can turn bad quickly.  

The avocados I buy come in a mesh bag, which makes for easy hanging. I save old bags to use for other fruit, such as the mango in the photo.