Bossa Nova Acerola Mango Miso Vinaigrette

This is my own version of the miso vinaigrette I made last time. The difference is that it features the Bossa Nova juice more. It has a slightly different taste due to fresh lime juice and cilantro, and the miso taste is a bit more subdued. If you want to taste the miso more, add another tablespoon and check for flavoring.

What I like about this version, besides having a higher proportion of the Bossa Nova acerola-mango juice, is the brightness of flavors from the lime, paired with garlic and cilantro. This vinaigrette isn't overly tangy thanks to honey, and is somewhat rich in texture instead of watery.

I paired it with a simply tomato and fresh mozzarella salad that I let stand for 10 minutes before eating, allowing the flavors of the vinaigrette to meld with the salad. To finish I sprinkled with a sea salt, Palm Island Premium Black Lava Sea Salt. (I am in love with both this and their bamboo jade sea salt. I sprinkle it on cookies, cupcakes, eat it straight up. It's great stuff that adds a little boost of flavor to foods and pastries.) It's important to note that I didn't saturate the salad in dressing, but just poured enough to coat the salad. That's really all you need since anything more will just drip off anyway, and unless you have some nice bread to dip in the extra you'll either throw it out or slurp from the plate.

If you give this recipe a try, let me know what you think.

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Bossa Nova Acerola Mango Miso Vinaigrette
Recipe by Christina Provo

ingredients ~

1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup Bossa Nova Acerola Mango juice
2 tablespoons mild miso
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
small pinch white pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

directions ~

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together lime juice, Bossa Nova juice, miso, honey, garlic, and white pepper until blended.


2. Slowly stream in olive oil, whisking constantly until blended and emulsified. Whisk in cilantro.

Bossa Nova Juice Review and Recipe

Bossa Nova recently sent me some of their juices to review. The concept here is using superfruits, acai, mangosteen, acerola, and goji berry. Lightly sweetened with agave, these juices contain all natural and organic ingredients that contain nutrients, antioxidants, and vitamins.

Bossa Nova offers a line of individual serving sizes a few different flavors (check the website to see them all). The goji berry with tart cherry was surprisingly pleasant with its smooth tartness. It was the least sweet of the four, but still very good. Both the mangosteen with passion fruit and mangosteen with dragon fruit were both slightly thicker in texture than the acai and goji berry. I really like the taste of the mangosteen with dragon fruit because it had a smooth, tropical flavor that I liked over the juice with passion fruit.

As seen in the first picture, there is also a line of 32 ounce bottles of juice in three flavors. The juices were all delicious and I liked tasting the blends from different fruit combinations. I'd definitely recommend looking for Bossa Nova juices in the store if you feel like grabbing something easy to consume and offers a sweet dose of healthy things to keep you feeling great.

While these would make a great juice addition to the fridge, you can also use the juices to make recipes, from cocktails to fruit punches, granita, and more. I decided to mix the acerola with mango into a recipe for miso vinaigrette, and use it on top of stir fried eggplant.

This is a really quick recipe to prepare, taking just around 15 minutes to cook the eggplant, though you'll need to prepare the vinaigrette first. I'll also be using the juices in another recipe, so stay tuned for that.

The miso vinaigrette is incredibly delicious and offers the benefits of miso in a light tasting, tangy dressing that can be used on salads, vegetables, to dip bread into, or even as a marinade.

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stir fried eggplant with Bossa Nova Acerola-Mango miso vinaigrette

Vinaigrette recipe ~
Recipe adapted from this link

ingredients ~

1/2 cup white vinegar (or lemon juice)
2 tablespoons sweet, white miso
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon honey
2-3 tablespoons Bossa Nova Acerola-Mango juice, or water
1/4 cup fresh parsley, basil or chives
1 cup olive oil

directions ~

1. Whisk vinegar through parsley together in a medium bowl. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking quickly, until combined and mixture is emulsified. Set aside.

To prepare the eggplant ~

ingredients ~

2 pounds baby or Japanese/Chinese eggplant, sliced on the bias
A few slices sliced fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, smashed and roughly chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Coarse salt and pepper
Prepared vinaigrette

directions ~

1. Heat oil on medium-high heat in a large skillet with ginger for about 2 minutes, stirring the ginger so it won't stick to the bottom. Add eggplant and garlic, stirring to coat in oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Stir fry for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.


2. Lower heat to medium and pour in 1/2 cup vinaigrette. Stir to coat, then cover and let cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is softened but not mushy. Remove to a serving dish and drizzle with more vinaigrette if desired.