Mango Lime Salad with Adobo Tilapia

Recently, I made a trip to a salad and sandwich place and had the most addictive mango and lime vinaigrette on a Caribbean chicken salad.  Tangy and sweet with a little herb-y kick, a perfect summer flavor.  Unfortunately, the contents of my salad were mostly limp and flavorless.  The supposedly spicy chicken was tame and it was seriously lacking in avocado, or really anything other than lettuce for that matter.  But that vinaigrette was worth a revisit so I decided to "dress" up the salad!

Using my food processor, I buzzed up a chunked champagne mango with lime zest and juice and a couple cloves of garlic.  Rice wine vinegar was added followed by streaming in olive oil until I got the perfect texture.  Out of the processor, I added some chopped cilantro, cumin, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the fish, I just used the spicy adobo sauce from the chipotles in adobo can.  (If you like super spicy, go ahead and mince some of the chipotles and add to the adobo sauce!)  After seasoning with salt and pepper and a shake of ground cumin, I rubbed about a teaspoon of adobo sauce on each filet.  After a quick sear, I flaked the tilapia over spring greens, red bell pepper, cucumbers, and chunked avocados tossed in the mango vinaigrette.  The end result was a great summery salad that I can make for much less at home!

Mango Lime Salad with Adobo Tilapia

Mango Lime Vinaigrette

1 champagne mango (peeled, pitted, and chunked)

2 cloves of garlic

2 limes juiced

1 teaspoon of lime zest

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (I prefer the sugar-free green cap!)

1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

1/2 teaspoon cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Adobo Tilapia

for each filet:

salt and pepper

pinch of cumin

1 teaspoon of adobo sauce from chipotles in adobo

Salad

about 6 oz of salad greens

1 bell pepper, diced

1 avocado, chunked

1 cucumber, sliced in half moons

(anything else you want . . . corn, black beans, onions, etc.)

dressing to your taste

flaked adobo tilapia (1 filet per person)

Start by seasoning the fish on both sides with salt and pepper and a pinch of cumin for each fish.  Rub the fish with the adobo sauce and let sit for at least a half an hour before cooking up.

While waiting for the fish to marinate, build the dressing.  With your food processor, buzz up the prepared mangos and garlic in the lime juice and rice wine vinegar until you have a smooth consistency.  

Stream in the olive oil, checking at 1/4 cup for texture and add more if you like a more oil-heavy dressing.  I like it with just a touch more oil than vinegar, so I stopped at about 1/3 cup.  Remove from the processor, stir in the cilantro and cumin, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium high, cook the fish in a little olive oil.  Flip after about 2-3 minutes, when you can start to see the fish turning more opaque and white, and finish for another 2 minutes on the other side.

Assemble the salad by combining the greens and veggies and adding the prepared dressing about a tablespoon at a time until you get your desired dressing to salad ratio.  Flake the fish over the top of the salad and serve up.  Enjoy!