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Arugula Gets Some Major Mango-Chile Action

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By GREG and MICHELLE BAKER

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 27, 2008

What do you get when you mix a Puerto Rican, an Englishman, a New Zealander and a half-Italian, half-Korean?

A kick-gluteus-maximus Titanium Chef Challenge at the Tampa Bay Food & Wine Festival is what you get!

Joshua Adam Garcia (aka JAG, the Puerto Rican standout on the third season of "The Next Food Network Star"), Justin Timineri (an Englishman and executive chef for the Florida Department of Agriculture), Jason Roberts (a New Zealander and executive chef of "Jason Roberts LIVE") and Robert Masson (the half-Italian, half-Korean executive chef at Tampa's 717 South) gathered in Famous Tate-donated kitchens to decide who would reign supreme over chocolate and mahi-mahi.

Our floor-side seats allowed us to watch the carrots fly as all four diced, chopped, stirred, sauteed, and seared their way through this showcase event. The heat was so hot, light bulbs were exploding; mahi-mahi heads rolled; and pepper grinders were held captive.

The Masson-Roberts team was victorious, and rightly so.

The two standout dishes from the challenge were Roberts' spring roll filled with lump crab and asparagus with a dark chocolate and sriracha (hot) sauce, and Masson's seared duck breast with baby greens and a white chocolate and mango vinaigrette.

White chocolate and mango? Sure, fruit and chocolate go hand in hand. Dark chocolate and sriracha? Why not? Chocolate was blended with spices and chiles in the New World long before it made its way to Europe, where it became what we know as chocolate today.

All of the challengers demonstrated ninjalike chef skills, but Masson was the, um, ninja star? We very well could have smeared that mango and white chocolate vinaigrette all over our bodies. It was that good. If he can do that in 60 minutes without the aid of a professional kitchen or any menu planning, you can bet we'll be licking our plates at 717 South.

With inspiration from Roberts and Masson, the brain has started churning. We live in a semitropical environment, where tropical fruits and chiles abound, so why not combine all three?

Here's a simple Titanium Chef-inspired salad that can be done without the pressure of a timer or the glare of TV lights.

ARUGULA AND MANGO SALAD WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE AND SRIRACHA VINAIGRETTE

For the salad:

1 package baby arugula leaves

1 mango, sliced

1/4 cup cilantro leaves (no stems)

For the vinaigrette:

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 tablespoon sriracha (found in the Asian food aisle of most grocery stores)

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup white chocolate (preferably shaved from a bar, but chips will do in a pinch)

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the white wine vinegar, sriracha, orange juice and sugar. Stir and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar.

Remove from heat and add the white chocolate, stirring well to melt and incorporate it into the dressing.

Set aside and let cool, but do not refrigerate; the chocolate will set and become hard.

Combine the arugula, mango and cilantro in a bowl.

Whisk the olive oil into the white chocolate mixture to incorporate, season with salt and pepper, and toss well.

This goes well with duck (per Chef Masson) or lean red meat.

Serves 4.

Got a question, comment or insult? Personal Sherpas Greg and Michelle are toiling away at culinarysherpas.com, where the tour continues.

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