Chile-spiced Chicken with Mango Salsa

How is it August 6th already?  It was just fourth of July like two days ago!  This summer is running away from me and I'm even unemployed and can enjoy every day in the sun.

July was jam-packed with travel.  I spent a week in Buffalo, visiting family I hadn't seen in years, eating locals treats and playing with my parents puppies.  After that I was in Arizona with BF for another week, sweating it out in the Phoenix heat, being awed by amazing geography and taking the longest hike I've even done in my life.

Upon our return from Arizona, we returned to New Jersey to find milder temperatures and rain.  Lots of rain.  That's okay though.  I use the rainy days to focus on my future career plans.  I'm really ready to head back to work after three months off.  I'm running out of things to do at home and I really miss working in the lab!  I'm going to try to make the most of my remaining time off (which hopefully isn't too much more!) and enjoy the last few weeks of summer!  Mostly by eating more fruit.

I made this chicken dinner last week and knew I would love it.  I also knew that BF would leave every last bit of mango on his plate.  He just really doesn't like fruit.  Such a weirdo!  Personally I love fruit with savory dishes and loved the mango salsa with the spice rubbed chicken.  I also got to use one of my new OXO tools - the mango splitter!  While it's totally easy to pit a mango without one, it took about three seconds to pit the mango with it!  I also thought I would show my step-by-step how-to cut a mango pics.  Now you know and it's so much easier than you thought!

Thanks go to OXO for sending me an amazing package of summer fruit tools, including this mango splitter, through the blogger outreach program.  All opinions about the tools are my own, but I have yet to find an OXO tool that doesn't do it's job!  Check out some of their fruit tools and enjoy the summers bounty!



One Year Ago: Curried Chicken with Coconut Rice
Two Years Ago: Gorgonzola Pasta 

Chile-spiced Chicken with Mango Salsa

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma - Chicken

Nothing says summer like grilling and fruit!  Combining the two in this dish made for the perfect dinner.  Of course, some people don't like to combine fruit with savory, but as I've said before - those people are crazy.  Absolutely bonkers.

For the Mango Salsa

1 ripe mango, pitted & cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
Zest from 1/2 lime
Juice from 1/2 lime

For the Chicken

1 pound thinly sliced chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon ancho chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Combine all ingredients for the salsa in a bowl and toss to combine.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Place chicken in a large bowl and add olive oil.  Toss to coat chicken in oil.  In a small bowl, mix together remaining spices.  Add this to the chicken and toss to coat evenly in spice mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Cook chicken on your outdoor grill or stove top grill pan over medium heat.  Since the chicken is thinly sliced, it should take about 4 minutes per side on a grill pan, or a total of 15 minutes on an outdoor grill.  Serve chicken with mango salsa.