Grilled Chicken Tacos with Mango Salsa

It has been a while since my last post so I figured I'd start up again with one of my favorite new recipes.  This recipe combines my two favorite things about cooking in warm weather, cooking with fresh produce and grilling.  Since I do not have an outdoor grill I use a grill pan for this recipe.  At first I was intimidated using my grill pan because it would always smoke up but once I learned the proper way to use it, I try to cook with it whenever I can.  I love fresh grill marks on chicken or steak, it just tastes so much better to me than sauteing or baking sometimes, nothing tastes more like summer than grilled meat.

Let me start by saying that I have the absolute worst kitchen to try to use a grill pan in, so I searched the internet for ways to stop my grill pan from smoking up so much and now I have finally found a technique that works.  First off, I pat the meat dry before putting it on the grill pan, this ensures the meat sears correctly and creates the beautiful grill marks on the meat :) .  Next I preheat the pan for at least 10 minutes on a medium high heat.  To test if the pan is hot enough, pour a few drops of water on the pan, if they evaporate immediately, the pan is hot enough.  If the water steams up, try the test again in a few minutes.  Once the pan is hot, coat the pan with a thin layer of canola oil.  I use canola since it has a high smoke point as compared to olive oil, never use olive oil on a grill pan unless you want a kitchen full of smoke (I have come very close to that before I researched the different smoke points for different oils).  Now I can finally use my grill pan as much as I want without fear of setting off the smoke alarms, although I still open all my windows to make sure the air is circulating because I worry too much.

Salsa

2 ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted and diced (about 3 cups)
1 small red onion, peeled and diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
juice of one lime

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 Tsp salt

Tacos

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tsp onion powder

1 Tsp garlic powder

1/2 Tsp salt

1/4 Tsp pepper

8 flour or corn tortillas

In a bowl, combine the mango, pepper, onion salt, olive oil and lime juice.  Cover and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Rub the mixture onto the chicken, set aside to marinate for at least 10 minutes.

Preheat the grill or grill pan.  Grill the chicken for 7 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.  Let the chicken rest and slice into strips

Divide the chicken between the tortillas and top with salsa.  Every so often to mix things up, I add avocado as well.

Better quality pictures to come