Welcome to the second instalment of “The Ironing Chef”. Last month I shared what I did with ham and pineapple. I made Ham & Pineapple Skewers with a Tangy Rice Salad and for dessert, I made a Pineapple & Sour Cream Parfait. I just want to share with you that you really can’t get stuck making something for dinner with just a few pantry items. It’s all about substitution and using what you have. This month, I had some pork chops and a couple mangoes. You could substitute the pork for chicken or fish and the mango with any other fruit. Pork goes so well with apples (as we all know) and peaches, plums, cherries, you name it. Use up what you have before running to the shops. So here’s what I made this month.

For our main dish, I cooked Pork Chops with a Mango Salsa, Mashed Potatoes and Beans. It just so happened that I had a couple potatoes and the last of some fresh green beans but you could use any vegetables. The salsa was made up from a bit of capsicum (red pepper), red onion and some fresh coriander.

There was nothing fancy done to the pork chops. Just seasoned with salt and pepper and a little olive oil rubbed into them then fried in a non stick pan.

To peel a mango is really easy, or this is how I do it.

1.  Cut off the ‘cheeks’ from either side of the large seed.

2.  Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh from the ‘cheeks’.

3.  Use flesh as required and cut off usable flesh from around the seed.

4.  It’s the chef’s privilege to suck any remaining flesh from the seed.

For the salsa, dice mango flesh.

Mix in diced red onion, capsicum and fresh coriander leaves.

No need to add anything else. The flavours go really well with the pork. As I mentioned earlier, this salsa is perfect with fish or chicken and if you don’t have mango, pineapple or another fruit would work just as well. If you’re missing fresh herbs and other vegies, a tinned or frozen pea/corn mix would work. Just have a good look around in your pantry or freezer because you never know what might be lurking. The only extras I used for this recipe were the vegetables. A touch of salt and pepper to whatever you’re cooking can be just the right amount of seasoning without having to worry about fresh herbs etc.