isn't it ironic, don't you think?

Lots of people ask me for recipes - my friends, my mother-in-law, my kids, my sister.  You will notice that I used the word sister in the singular form. The Potato Princess phones me for recipes and cooking advice all the time; the Twisted Sista, not so much.  She dances to the beat of a different drummer or should I say, she cooks with a different set of taste buds.  Anyone who makes a dish where lima beans are the main ingredient has to be a little off kilter, right?

So when I received a phone call a couple of weeks ago from someone looking for a recipe, I thought nothing of it.  I looked it up, emailed it to her and that was that.  Then the irony of it occurred to me. This particular person was my Cooking teacher in Grade 8!  She taught me some of my basic cooking skills.  It was in her classroom that I first learned what a roue paste was, where I made Welsh Rarebit and Scotch Eggs and now she was asking me for a recipe.

Okay, I must confess.  She did not just decide to phone me up one day, thirty ten years after high school, out of the blue, looking for a recipe because she had heard what a great cook I was.  Here's the real story: I am friends with her daughter and I had served this particular dish at a party we both attended and I suppose she told her mother about it, who then in turn phoned me for the recipe.

But I like the sound of it better when you don't fill in those details, "Yeah, my high school Cooking teacher called me up the other day looking for a recipe, and here it is."

Tortilla Cups with Mango Salsa

Ingredients
4 oz (125 g) Monterey Jack cheese
3 (6-in./15-cm) flour tortillas
2 tsp (10 ml) olive oil
1 mango
1/4 cup (50 ml) roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry
1 serrano or jalapeno pepper, seeded
2 tbsp (30 ml) finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 lime
1/4 tsp (1 ml) salt
Additional finely chopped fresh cilantro (optional) 

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Cut cheese into twenty-four 1/2-in. (1-cm) cubes.  Brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Stack tortillas and cut into eight wedges using pizza cutter for a total of 24 wedges. Press tortillas into cups of a small muffin pan. Place one cheese cube into each cup. Bake 5-7 minutes or until edges of tortillas begin to brown and cheese is melted.
 

Meanwhile, for salsa, dice mango and roasted pepper. Finely chop serrano pepper, onion and cilantro. Juice lime to measure 1 tbsp (15 mL). Combine mango, peppers, onion, cilantro, juice and salt in a bowl; mix well.

Remove pan from oven to cooling rack. Cool cups in pan 2-3 minutes. Carefully remove cups from pan to serving platter. Divide salsa evenly amongst cups. Sprinkle with additional finely chopped cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately.

Note: If desired, 1 medium peach or nectarine can be substituted for the mango.  As you will notice in the picture above, I used grated cheese because I had some already grated but I would recommend using the cheese cubes instead.

The sweet juiciness of the mango combines perfectly with the fresh summery taste of the cilantro while the pepper finishes it off with a little heat.  Mmm, make lots.