Plantains

Plantains are a new favorite at our house. You can buy 6 for $1 at the Farmers Market. The trick is to make sure the skins turn totally black -- that's when they're ripe. If you try to use them too early, thinking they're like a banana, boy do you have a chore on your hands. Those skins do NOT come off easily and the fruit itself can be rock hard. This has tripped me up several times, and I still probably don't wait long enough for them to get fully ripe (and sweet). Thus, the not-quite-ripe ones I use tend to taste more like a potato than a banana. Just a hint of sweetness.

Previously I've tried to use plantains to make mofongo -- or some approximation thereof. It's close to the mashed potato/plantain combo they serve at John's Tex Mex.

This past weekend I used plantains to make a pastelon. That's basically a lasagna with fried plantains instead of lasagna noodles. The Noshery's website is very helpful in making this, though I just sort of dumped fried plantain strips, seasoned with cumin, then Sazon seasoned ground beef, then whatever cheese we had on top of each other. And even that turned out awesome.

The next day I used the rest of our plantains in a curry. Phenomenal as well. You can not go wrong with the plantain, I'm tellin' ya.