Welcome to Mango Tomato!
This is a Washington DC area food blog. Here you'll find my original recipes, cookbook and restaurant reviews, travel and food photography. Look around, keep in touch, and come back soon!
Did you know that over the last 3 years I've taught more than ten private and group flower arrangement classes both in person and virtually?
I love how much happiness flowers bring into my life and enjoy sharing the techniques I picked up over the years with others. Below are some of the arrangements I've made in the past.
You can see even more of my love of flowers here or on instagram. If you are interested in a class, please email me at olga@mangotomato.com!
Which of these is your favorite?
Hi, friends.
Can you believe I've not updated my blog since November 2021? No worries, I've still been cooking, eating out, taking photos of food, traveling, and sharing all these adventures on instagram.
In honor of Travel Tuesday, however, I thought I'd share with you a fun (I hope) write up about my trip to Arizona with my twin and two of our friends in April.
If you want to get away and discover Arizona, you don’t have to choose just one city. Find a hotel or an Airbnb in Phoenix, rent a car, and you’ll be able to visit Scottsdale and Sedona during the same trip! Below are a few highlights for each city from my trip earlier this year.
Phoenix
Desert Botanical Garden: whenever I travel, I always visit a botanical garden if one is located nearby. This garden, however, stood out amongst all others because of thousands of varieties of cacti showcased in 55 acres of desert landscape.
Little Miss BBQ: get a plate with 2 sides! I recommend sliced brisket, potato salad, and coleslaw. If you are a vegetarian, you’ll have to stick to mac and cheese, cheddar jalapeno grits, potato salad, and smoked pecan pie.
Harumi Sushi: sushi may not be the first cuisine you think of when you are in Arizona, but this was a great find because the restaurant gets fresh seafood flown overnight from places like Scotland and Nova Scotia. Harumi Sushi was voted best sushi in the state of Arizona in 2021, and I could see why: great variety of sushi and sashimi at reasonable prices, especially when compared to DC, and friendly service.
Scottsdale
Taliesin West: if you are a fan of architecture, and specifically Frank Lloyd Wright, this is a must-see attraction. Take a guided tour, don’t forget to bring sunscreen and water, and learn about Wright’s life and his thoughts on organic architecture while walking through the grounds and taking a peek into the building and studio spaces.
Pinnacle Peak Park: wake up early, put on your tennis shoes, grab sunscreen and water and drive out to the park for a moderate hike with great views of the city and countless opportunities to take photos with cacti in the background.
Sedona: for slightly cooler temperatures and a change of scenery, drive to Sedona for a day.
Crescent Moon Picnic Area: this is a beautiful area featuring Red Rocks and perfect for a stroll especially around the sunset. Don’t forget to take a photo of the Cathedral Rock and dip your feet into the nearby stream.
Book your flight, pack your bags, and have an unforgettable vacation.
My discovery of The Best Japanese Milk Recipe** all started with me wanting to make Japanese egg salad sandwich with Japanese mayonnaise and a fun way of presenting the sandwich (when cut in half, you see a cross-section of an egg). Why not also bake Japanese Milk Bread then, I thought!?
Never having even tried Japanese Milk Bread, but hearing quite a bit of praise for it, I googled for a recipe and found Caroline's Cooking blog. I followed Caroline's recipe exactly and was stunned at the results. My friends were too. The bread was so pillowy and slightly sweet and smelled divine. The sandwich did not disappoint either.
**This is The Best recipe because it's the only one I've baked and have no need for another one.
A few months ago I went to Ann Arbor, Michigan and discovered Lafayette Avenue Ceramics in a cute store. I immediately bought one of their speckled plates and have been using it ever since.
The other color of Lafayette Avenue Ceramics beautiful pieces I loved was dark blue. Today I'd like to share two recipes/ideas I created in collaboration with Lafayette Avenue Ceramics featuring roasted carrots, feta, and pistachios. The colors pop on the two beautiful pieces I received for our collaboration. You'll be seeing these quite a bit on my instagram.
Note: I roasted carrots at 425F with olive oil, salt, pepper and turmeric for about 25 minutes. The carrots for the hummus were diced; the carrots for the bowl were quartered in length.
Roasted Carrot Hummus With Feta & Pistachios
Ingredients
1/2 pound roasted carrots
1 cup chickpeas
3 tablespoons tahini
3-5 tablespoons water or liquid from the chickpeas
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 garlic clove, smashed
salt & pepper to taste
garnishes: crumbled feta, chopped pistachios, togarashi, chili oil
Directions
1. Puree all ingredients but garnishes in a food processor. Put into a shallow bowl. Top with garnishes.
Roasted Carrots & Lentil Bowl With Feta, Pistachios & Cilantro
Ingredients
labneh
cooked French lentils
roasted carrots
crumbled feta
chopped pistachios
cilantro
chili oil
Directions
Make a bowl ;)
And so it's the weekend again! I thought I'd share with you a few of my latest inspirations for cooking and baking.
First up, Marnely's Vegan Tofu Bolognese: such an easy to follow and satisfying recipe. I had seconds and thirds the first time I made it. Bonus points: Marnely is a friend (and I really hope we meet in real life one day). The leftovers are great on top of white beans.
Next up, Joan Nathan's challah, but with chopped crystallized ginger on the inside and a combination of black and white sesame seeds and sugar in the raw on the outside. This was by far one of the best challah recipes.
I made half the recipe and then divided it into 2: one round, one regular topped with za'atar. I'll definitely be making this recipe again and again.
Thanks Jenna for inspiring me!
The confetti plate is from one of my favorite businesses: Felt and Fat.
Ok, I feel better now :0
Here's a Quick And Easy Borsch Recipe you can whip up in less than 45 minutes (all the while practicing your dicing skills) and eat either hot or cold because it's completely vegan (that is until you add mayonnaise or sour cream).
Quick And Easy Borsch Recipe
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled, diced
2 Russet potatoes, peeled, diced (larger than the other vegetables)
2 medium beets, peeled, diced
salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
water
1/2 small cabbage, thinly sliced
toppings: mayonnaise or sour cream, parsley or dill, and toast
Directions
1. In a large soup pot, I used Le Creuset, heat olive oil. Add onions and carrots and saute for 5 minutes.
2. Add potatoes and saute for 3 more minutes.
3. Add beets, salt and pepper, and tomato paste, stir to combine and saute for 5 minutes.
4. Add enough water to cover everything by 1 to 2 inches depending on how thick you'll want your borsch to be. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer until potatoes are tender.
5. Add cabbage, bring the mixture back to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Serve with mayonnaise or sour cream, parsley or dill, and toast.
The soup will only get better as it sits in the refrigerator.
Ricotta Toasts With Mango & Honeyed Pistachios
Serves 1
Ingredients
1/4 cup smoked honey (use 3 tablespoons for pistachios and the rest as a drizzle)
2 tablespoons salted roasted pistachios, chopped
red pepper flakes to taste
2 slices of bread, toasted
1/4-1/3 cup ricotta, drained slightly
1 mango, peeled, "cheeks" cut off and thinly sliced
Directions
1. In a small pan heat the honey. Add pistachios and sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Bring the mixture to a bubble and cook for about 5 minutes. Carefully transfer to parchment paper and allow to cool. Break into pieces.
2. Slather toasts with ricotta, add a layer of sliced mango, top with honeyed pistachios, and drizzle with a bit more honey. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes for extra heat.
SO
VERY
GOOD
Mango Tomato Cherry Salsa
1 mango, peeled, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 cup cherries, pitted, chopped
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno (I used one I grew on my windowsill!)
salt to taste
1-2 tablespoons lime juice
2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
chips to serve
Shout out to my new Felt & Fat bowls I received as a gift from the company after being their super fan!!!
Last week I was invited to a get together with a few neighborhood girls, but had zero desire to go grocery shopping: I had cherries in the freezer and a large bag of oats, and so I searched for cherry and oats recipe. That's how I landed on Copycat Starbucks Michigan Cherry Oat Bars from Sandra of Dash of Sanity (who can't use some sanity!?).
Surprisingly, and luckily, I had all the necessary ingredients other than quick oats. I ended up using regular oats, adding orange zest to the filling and then topping cooled and cut bars with frozen yogurt and chopped roasted and salted pistachios.
The recipe was so easy to follow and left my condo smelling sweet and fragrant. Speaking of sweet, I highly recommend cutting the brown sugar to 2/3 cups from a full cup.
To make the frozen yogurt, I took 2% yogurt, put it into a small container and put it in the freezer. After an hour I fork'ed the yogurt and put it back into the freezer. Repeat a few times.
These were a HUGE success!!! You can easily make these bars with any type of berries or stone fruit or even apples. I bet they'll be stellar with a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips under the filling.
Please don't use canned filling: fresh one takes just a few minutes to make.
