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Friday, August 27, 2010

Platanos Fosters

I’m giving away the ingredient I plan on using for a 3 part series tonight but at the rate my free time is being eaten up, I’ve got to post whenever I have the spare moment or things’ll start to build up on me!

Well these next few entries, you can surmise have all to do about plantains. Plantains are a tropical fruit that is kin to bananas – there is no “formal difference” and plantains are occasionally referred to as bananas but anyone who’s eaten both a banana and a plantain can tell you there is a marked difference. Bananas are most oft eaten raw from the peel while plantains, being much starchier and less sweet, are usually cooked in some fashion.

Plantains are a global fruit, known and used all the way from Cali to Mexico to the Caribbean islands to Portugal, Africa, the Mediterranean, Thailand and all the way over to Australia. They can be used both in their green un-ripened state and also in their near-blackened over-ripe state.

The way I am most accustomed to having plantains is when my Mother In Law either makes Tostones (double fried and flattened green plantain sprinkled with salt) or Platanos Maduros (frying an over-ripe plantain to either eat alone as a dessert or as a side dish).

I have a couple that I’m waiting on to ripen, because my favorite way to eat plantains is in their sweeter form. I also had a couple that were already ripened and were at risk to spoil if I kept putting them off. So.. me being the day late and dollar short kind of person I am thought “Hey! What if I made a bananas foster type thing but with plantains!”. Ugh.. yeah, so original.. Google confirmed this – haha..
ANYWAY! I still wanted to do it up my way and this is what became of it..


Platanos Fosters *said in a Nacho Libre accent*
2 Over-ripe Plantains – sliced on the bias about 1/4” thick
½ Stick Butter
2 T. packed Brown Sugar
Ground cinnamon (for sprinkling)
1.5 oz Banana Liquer
1.5 oz Bacardi Solera Rum
4 c. Oil
4 small flour tortillas
Dulce De Leche Ice Cream
Cinnamon Sticks

~ In a small/medium saucepan (or conversely, a deep fryer) heat the oil to 350-375*F. Drop a tortilla in the hot oil and press down a metal ladle/spoon in the center so that the tortilla takes the shape of a shell around the ladle. Fry until lightly browned and place on a plate lined with papertowels to drain. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon while still warm.

~ In a sautepan over med-high heat, melt butter til frothy – add sliced plantains to the pan and let fry for about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar to the pan and a sprinkle or two of cinnamon. Cook for another minute. Add liquors to the pan and set alight with a long match or long lighter *take extreme care at this step and be prepared for a big flame* - shake the pan a bit as the flame goes down and the alcohol burns off. Once extinguished, take the pan off the heat.

~ Place a tortilla cup on a plate or in a bowl, spoon a scoop of dulce de leche icecream in the middle of the cup and top with 4-5 plantain slices and a few spoonfuls of the rum sauce. Garnish with a stick of cinnamon and enjoy immediately 

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You can use just about any rum you’d like for this recipe but I used a special Bacardi 1873 Solera if for no other reason than it’s a Bacardi that is made in mexico and my plantain series is meant to have a hint of Mexican flair about it :D
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Frying the tortilla shells
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Ripe plantains are still pretty firm in relation to a ripe banana
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After flambéing
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Use any vanilla/cinnamon/caramel icecream you like – I like Haagen Dazs’s Dulce De Leche
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Delicioso!
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Stay tuned.. :D

3 comments:

Casey Hudlow said...

I think I just licked my computer screen. Seriously....

Unknown said...

Husband - Did the kids get to try this or was it all gobbled up by the adults? What's the calories from one of those?

Stay@HomeChef said...

The kids absconded a tortilla shell - they were supposed to be asleep anyway when I was making this and they'd already had their dessert so no dulce de leche for them!

And if you have to ask how many calories, you shouldn't be thinking about eating one of these..