Mexican Banana Bread (Pan de Platano)

So these plantains are taking fuh-ever and a day to ripen.. I would have waited til they were mostly blackened but I got all antsy in my pantsy and went ahead and made my Plantain Bread anyways..
I happen to think it turned out well for being a first run and it was fun putting together some flavor combos for compound cream cheeses to accompany said plantain bread. Mmm…

Mexican Banana Bread (Pan de Platano)

2 c. AP Flour
1 t. ea. :
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Salt
Cinnamon
2 Ripe/Over-ripe Plantains - diced small
1 c. Brown Sugar
1 stick Unsalted Buttah - room temperature
2 Eggs
1 T. Bacardi Solera Rum
1 t. Mexican Vanilla Extract
1 t. Cider Vinegar

~ Preheat oven to 325*F and prep a loaf pan by greasing and flouring.
~ Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside
~ In a mixer, cream together sugar and butter 2 minutes - til fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time. Add in rum, vanilla and vinegar. Mix in
flour until just combined.
~ Fold in, by hand, the diced plantains. Pour batter into prepped loaf
pan and bake for 1 hr - 1 hr 10 min until a knife inserted comes out
clean. Let cool then unmold and slice. Spread on butter or a flavored
cream cheese (like the ones to follow). Enjoy :)


I forgot the eggs here so just imagine I added them 
How I prep a plantain (whose skins can be thick and may take some finangaling to get off)
Trim ends

They are long so, cut in half and score the skin longwise. Make sections if you must, but this plantain was easy to peel.


Oh God.. working has turned my hands into wrinkly old lady hands.. 
Err.. back on track.. Yeah, dice these up. After having tasted the end product, I would dice this much smaller than I did here – since plantains are more solid and starchy than bananas.



And through the magic of television… Voila!


I did 4 different combinations of flavored cream cheese to have with this plantain loaf. Get creative, add your own nuts/spices/extracts/oils/herbs/zests/juices (you get the idea  ).

Pepitas y Canela Creamcheese (Pumpkin seeds & Cinnamon)
8 oz. Cream Cheese
1 t. Ground Cinnamon
2 T. Powdered Sugar
2 T. Chopped Pumpkin Seeds
~ Mix creamcheese, cinnamon and 10x sugar with an electric mixer. Fold in pumpkin seeds.

Nuez el Clavo Creamcheese (Pecans & Clove)
8 oz. Cream Cheese
2T. Powdered Sugar
¼ t. Ground Cloves
¼ t. Vanilla Extract
2 T. Chopped Pecans – toasted
~ Mix creamcheese, ground clove, extract and 10x sugar with an electric mixer. Fold in pecans.

Cocoa Chile Creamcheese
8 oz. Cream Cheese
½ t. Ancho Chile Powder
1 T. Cocoa Powder
2 T. Powdered Sugar
¼ t. Vanilla Extract or Rum
~ Mix creamcheese, chile powder, cocoa powder, extract and 10x sugar with an electric mixer.

Mojito Creamcheese
8 oz. Cream Cheese
2 T. Powdered Sugar
Few drops of Lime Oil
1 T. Fresh Mint – minced
~ Mix creamcheese, 10x sugar and lime oil with an electric mixer. Fold in minced mint. Serve soon after making.



Mexican Vanilla from Nielsen-Massey – Some of the best stuff on the market. I get mine through either King Arthur Flour or Williams Sonoma


I got this Boyajian Lime Oil from King Arthur Flour too. A 1 oz. bottle has the equivalent of like 80 limes or some crazy mess like that. So use sparingly!

Psst! I also added a smidge of this. Not too much, don’t want the cream cheese to be soupy and yuckers.



Ugh, and with that.. Goodnight! 

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 



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


Frying the tortilla shells



Ripe plantains are still pretty firm in relation to a ripe banana



After flambéing


Use any vanilla/cinnamon/caramel icecream you like – I like Haagen Dazs’s Dulce De Leche


Delicioso!


Stay tuned.. :D