Ok so this salad looks good, but does it taste good……

It's easy to make, and all about summer flavours. Fresh mango, fresh mint, red beans, with a subtly spicy mango and lemon dressing. Sounds good? Read on...

Mint….

You’ve probably realised, mint features heavily in my pictures here. We love it! The flavour is unique and evokes fresh and cool thoughts... I remember growing mint as a child in a small carefully defined area, 4 or 5 different types from the spearmint to wild mints, broad to fine leafed varieties. All seemed to grow well -too well, as any good gardener will tell you! Unless you restrict its roots, it will pop up all over the place. Which it did! But then, I'd rather have mint popping up than weeds..... Lesson learnt for the future.

Chopper or blender?

In our house, there was always the traditional mint sauce eaten with Sunday lunch. This would always mean using the manual mint chopper... Do you remember using those -banging your hand on a spring loaded blade, to chop the mint finely? Red bruised hands serve now as a reminder, that blenders and auto choppers weren’t always around. Where would we be without the modern blender -phew!

Whist I would never say no to a nice mint sauce, there are so many other fantastic drinks and foods which are improved with the use of mint. Perhaps eating it so young has trained me to enjoy it, but you don't have to add as much to this salad as we did if you don't want to....

Vom Fass (Heilbronn)

This salad would be nothing though without its dressing! Thanks to the kind permission of vom Fass (Heilbronn), you get to see some great recipes with their fabulous oils and vinegars that are not normally seen in your local supermarket.

Fruity Oils

Previously you may remember we used the Mango Balsam for the first time. I was amazed at its rich mango smell, I wanted to taste it straight away! With low acidity, its just right for this salad. However now we get to combine it with lemon oil. This oil is just as it says, its olive oil with a wonderfully fresh zing that only lemon seems to do. Combined with chilli if you want, it can really pepper up many dishes. We have eaten this salad with and without, it’s hard to say which is nicer? Leaving the chilli out just allows the fresh mint and lemon to come through better.

Mint, Mango, Pasta, & Red beans with a fruit inspired dressing. A great mix of flavours and textures. It’s brilliant for summery evening meals, picnics, BBQ's, dinner parties and just about any meal where a little taste sensation is needed. Try it for yourself! Wow your friends this summer season….