Chicken in Mango & Bell Pepper Sauce

Behold, our first new recipe of 2014! We've had a few Food posts so far, but those were made around the holidays and don't count towards our goal of 20 new recipes this year. But this one does! It came out of the cookbook, "The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook," and does not disappoint.

The Recipe

Mango - Bell Pepper Sauce

1 Teaspoon Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

1 Shallot

1/2 Red Bell Pepper

2 Cloves of Garlic

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne

1 Small Mango

1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tablespoon Fresh Cilantro

Salt and Pepper

Start by doing all your cutting - mince the shallot, garlic, and cilantro; dice the red pepper; and peel, pit, and cut the mango into 1/2" pieces. Then heat your oil in a pan on medium. Add your shallot and bell pepper, cooking until lightly browned (5-7 mins). Add your garlic, allspice, and cayenne and cook briefly (about 30 seconds). Then add your mango, vinegar, molasses, and Worcestershire sauce and cook until the mango is soft (about 2 mins). Take it off the heat, add your cilantro, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

End Results and Final Thoughts

Just by looking at the recipe it's pretty easy to know that this is a good one. I didn't even change much - the recipe calls for molasses, but we used maple syrup instead (because it was on hand). We put this on some drumsticks we already had (baked in the oven with a little oil and salt / pepper) and it was a great fit. This sauce would also be good on pork or even salmon. One thing I might change, however, is add a little red pepper flake or something else to spice it up. It's nice and sweet from the mango, but we like a little more spice in our dishes. This was still really good and we liked it on the chicken with some rice and steamed veggies. We probably won't make this often, but would make it again.