One Salsa, Infinite Possibilities

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

I feel as though I am always writing about the importance of inspiration when deciding what to cook for dinner. Sometimes it is as simple as a vegetable on the verge of spoiling that demands to be cooked before it turns. Occasionally one might feel the urge to have your own private episode of Iron Chef with the bits and pieces around the pantry. But mostly I think inspiration usually comes from a rumbling deep in your abdomen that demands to be satisfied with your psychological urge of the moment. Those cravings can lead to blissfully, if not divinely, inspired dishes. Let me tell you the story of a salsa, born of one such gustatory craving, that went on to become the source of inspiration itself.

It started with a craving. A luscious mango desire. It was the middle of the summer, hot and steamy in the New York one hundred percent humidity and I was feeling positively tropical. I went straight to the market and came home with not one, but several blushing green fruits (This is the downside of inspirational cravings, they often result in going a bit over-board in an attempt to satisfy them).

Days later, my craving was sated but now I had extra fruit on my hands. And it wasn't just the mangoes. Since the mango attack I had succumbed to both a strawberry fit and an orange urge. I had a lot of fruit on my hands (again, I my eyes were bigger than my stomach) and something needed to be done.

Fruit salad wouldn't really be my style. Perhaps it was too logical a solution. I was making a cilantro pepper steak for dinner and needed an accompaniment. Enter inspiration. A little extra jalapeno and cilantro from the steak combined with the mango, strawberries, some juice from the oranges, along with red onion and a bit of lime juice and I had my very first mango salsa.

That first night, the salsa came to be as an accompaniment to a steak, but it wasn't the meat that was the star. Instantly I started thinking up other ways I would want to use this salsa. Grilled swordfish seemed obvious. Shrimp tacos sounded awesome. Maybe with breakfast and an egg burrito? But before I could think of how to use the excess salsa, friends and some tortilla chips ensured that leftovers weren't really an issue.

Funny how the inspiration that came as a solution to a problem resulted in a new favorite dish that became the inspiration itself. Bringing out the salsa at parties has gone on to inspire others who then share their own ideas of how it might best be served. But before we can come to an agreement, someone is inevitably scraping the bottom of the bowl with a chip.

Now when I crave mangoes, I might buy an extra few on purpose. Indulge a craving, chase an inspiration, and discover infinite possibilities of your own.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 8 corn tortillas
• vegetable oil
• salt
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons coriander
• 1 pinch sugar
• salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 pound medium cooked shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1/2 head cabbage

***MANGO STRAWBERRY SALSA***

• 2 mangoes
• 6 medium strawberries
• 1/2 medium red onion
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 lime
• salt
• 1 avocado