As I was wrapping a work phone call today, I heard my colleague’s wife, Natalie, mention it was time for mango margaritas. She was 100% correct.
So I got inspired to whip up a batch, here’s my secret (not-so-secret now) recipe. Enjoy!
This is a free form recipe with lots of room to riff with your pantry items, because we are all locked down in quarantine and can’t always find things in stock. Plus, experimenting is fun!
This makes 1 margarita and easily doubles or triples as needed.
Serve on the rocks.
Ingredients:
-Limes and/or Lemons
-Oranges and/or Tangerines
-Tequila Reposado
-Cointreau
-Gran Marnier
-Salt
-Powdered chiles
Step 1: Make the spicy salt.
Add 1-2 tbsp salt (depending on how many margaritas you are making) and some powdered chiles on a plate. I used pink Himalyan salt, Hepp’s Habanero salt, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika and chili powder. Sprinkle in a little bit at a time until you find your sweet spot with heat and smoke. Use whatever you have in the pantry and mix it up with a fork. Some lime zest or Tajin would work well in this too. Just have fun!
Step 2: Prep your glasses.
Grab a glass, rub the rim with a citrus wedge and dip into the spicy salt. Put the glass in the freezer while you work on the rest.
Step 3: Blitz some mangos!
As a good child of the tropics, I always have frozen mangos on hand. Fresh mangos are also starting to make an appearance here in Miami, FL, so now is the time to use them.
Throw about 1/4 cup of mango chunks (per drink, scale up as needed) in the blender with a little water if frozen or some ice if using fresh mangoes. Give it all a blitz! You should end up with a thick puree (like a nice compota.) Put it in the freezer while you work on the rest.
Step 4: Citrus time.
The ideal ratio is 3 oz. fresh lime juice to 1 oz. fresh orange juice per Margarita in my opinion, but you can make it as sweet or sour as you want. I didn’t have fresh limes or oranges today, so I mixed some bottled lime juice with fresh lemon juice, and squeezed some Little Cutie mandarins to achieve the same freshness. Not a big deal, just taste as you go and adjust the balance.
I’m not into the commercial sour mixes, but if you have it and want to take the short cut, do it. Use what you have.
The point is to get to 4oz of citrus juice or sour mix per margarita.
Step 5: Add the good stuff.
You will need 2oz. of citrus liquour (I like to do 1oz of Cointreau and 1oz of Gran Marnier) and 2oz. of tequila (I like Herradura or Patron Reposado.) In a pinch, you can sub any of the citrus liquors with Triple Sec or similar orange liquors like Patron Orange or Gran Gala.
Total of 4 oz. per drink.
Step 6: Shake it up.
Shake the 4oz. of tequila & citrus liquor with the 4oz. of citrus juice/sour mix in a shaker with ice until the glass turns cold.
Step 7: Serve the drink.
Remove your glass and mango mixture from the freezer. Spoon in 2-3 tbsp of the mango mixture into the bottom of the glass, top with ice. Strain in your shaken margarita mix. Drink & enjoy!
La Casa Florida 