Today it happened to be with Plantains.
I grew up eating this wonderful fruit in two basic and popular ways:
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| Patacones |
1. Under ripe savory fried "patacones"...or as some call it also
"tostones". The under ripeness is evident in the green hue in
which the plantain skins are still visible. At this stage they are
peeled, sliced, fried, smashed, refried and lastly salted.
2. Ripe sweet fried "platano maduros". These are the darker
skinned (marbled in black and yellow) softer plantains. These are
simply peeled, sliced on the bias and longer than the patacones and simply deep fried 'til
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| Maduros |
GBD....Golden brown and Delicious. Although not required to
season at all with anything right out of the fryer some people do go
further into the dessert realm by adding sugar and cinnamon.
So these were staples in my house and in basically many of the Latin American friends and families homes I knew growing up. Sure there were other uses for them like in stews or soups but the two basic ways were always so good as is.
Now one thing that most new comers to this ingredient ask....is it a banana? Yes....to some they are. But in other areas of the world they are distinguished separately and simply as part of the same family but different in constitution. I.E Plantains are more starchy than regular bananas we come to know commonly here in the U.S. Due to this nature of the ingredient it is most often required to go thru some cooking process. Especially when under ripe.
Anyway, today as I was recovering from a half marathon I ran yesterday. I was slothing it out on my couch wondering what to do with these 3 lonely over ripe plantains sitting around. I bought them about a week ago and intended to wait for them to go ripe and obtain that black and yellow skin tone. But there was one problem.....I had NO desire to start frying these guys up. Although I know my wife and kids love them just like that more than anything.....I was, in simple terms, BORED with that idea.
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| Ripe (sweet) Plantains |
I wanted something different or another approach.
Then it hit me......What if I made a dessert out of it? What if I treated them similar to sweet potatoes, squash or even pumpkin? The vision came to me in the form of a CRISP but with firmer filling like a cheesecake?
So ......I went off to the kitchen to create a Sweet Spiced Plantain Crisp!!!
Here is the basic recipe for what I came up with.
INGREDIENTS:
Filling
3 over ripe plantains
1/2 cup cream cheese (room temp)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 whole egg
1 tbs Molasses
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
dash salt to taste
Crisp
1 cup Whole Wheat Chex Mix
1/2 cup Sliced Almonds
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbs melted butter
METHOD of PREP
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small cake pan place peeled plantains whole*
Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake in oven for roughly 30-45 minutes.
Once plantians are tender and have some caramelization on the flesh remove from oven.
Let cool for 5 min.
Remove cooked plantains and place in medium size bowl.
Add remaining ingredients.
Use a sturdy whisk, start smashing and whisking the mixture around.
Whisk until it forms a nice smooth puree.
Taste an adjust any seasonings to your liking.
In a buttered 9x5 or 8x4 glass pan (like pyrex) spread mixture.
Use the back of a spoon to spread around evenly.
In a separate bowl add the Chex Mix and Almonds.
Hand crush well until they form crumbs.
Add flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix well again.
Then drizzle butter into the mix well until crumbs are slightly moistened.
Spread the crumb topping over the top of the filling evenly.
Pat gently to even it out but do not pack to hard.
Place in oven and bake for approx 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool slightly before digging in.
To serve you can accompany it with fresh whipped cream or even drizzle some maple syrup over it.
Enjoy!!
Serves 4-6
*option would be to peel the plantains but to use the skins to "jacket" the plantains before placing in pan and covering in foil.
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| Sweet Spiced Plantain Crisp |
