The festive season brings many enjoyable treats into our lives, and for the last 11 years one favourite regular event is getting mangoed-out with a big tray of ripe, fresh mangoes. The guy I work for, Don, has made a very welcome tradition of giving each of his staff a hamper of Christmas goodies that's always topped with a tray of mangoes, and this year was no exception. Thank you Don!
This is the 2009 tray of Bowen mangoes, and it smells as lovely as it looks. Bringing it home from the office yesterday, the car was filled with tropical mango scents.
They're ripening fast and we won't be able to eat them all, so our friends always share in the bounty. Pam's making a mango dessert to take to a get-together tonight. Not sure what's in it but she asked me to buy some white rum and shredded coconut yesterday, and that's all I know. While it's possible to grow mangoes here in Sydney it's a bit too cool to do it well, and crops can take up to two years to mature, and they're not a patch on the real tropical mangoes. So I don't bother. But each summer I feast on mangoes, and one of my favourite recipes is the simplest. Cheater's mango ice-cream. Very simple, and very deliciously mangoey at the same time.
Cheater’s mango ice-cream
2/3 to 3/4 of a tub of plain vanilla ice-cream, softened almost to room temperature
the flesh of 2 ripe mangoes
Let the ice-cream soften till it’s almost runny. Puree the flesh of the mangoes in a food processor. Stir the pureed mango into the ice-cream and mix it in well. Put into the freezer.
After 2 hours, take the ice-cream out of the freezer and whip the ice-cream, to break up the ice crystals. Re-freeze. After another hour or so, do the same thing again, whipping the almost-frozen ice-cream. That should make the ice-cream nice and smooth.
