Patacones!

One of the benefits of having friends with gluten issues, is that you get to try out restaurants that you may not normally think to frequent. Heaven is one of those places for me, and the food is so delicious (“vibrant” is a word I often use to describe it) that I have since shared this destination with several of my non-GF friends as well.

Heaven-ly fare (clockwise): pulled-pork patacones, shrimp-and-avocado arepa with butternut squash soup, and of course, the scrumptious fish tacos .

The Sampler Platter.

Now, one of my favourite things on the menu at Heaven are the Patacones – which are essentially fried plantains topped with a variety of yummy taco-like goodies. It has always been a mystery to me how they get their plantain patties so large, however, as plantains are only slightly bigger than your average banana. Do they make a mashed plantain patty? Grate it into something else, like one would make a potato pancake? Or do they simply have a supplier of super-sized plantains?

This weekend, that mystery got the better of me and I purchased my first plantain and started researching patacone recipes. Based on a handful of ideas presented, this is what I came up with:

Patacone Patties

• one green plantain
• oil to fry in (I used grapeseed, but I’m sure any vegetable oil would work)
• salt and pepper to season

Peel the plantain by cutting off both ends and making a shallow cut through just the skin from end to end. Use your fingers to pry the skin off the vegetable inside. Cut into pieces on a diagonal (to increase the area), about 3/4″-1″ thick (I’m going to try slightly less next time). Put pieces into a pot and fill with just enough water to cover them and set on medium heat until boiling. Boil for 25 minutes (during which time you can prepare your toppings) and remove from heat. Place the pieces on a flat surface and squash under something else flat (I used a serving dish) until about 1/4″-1/2″ thick – you want them to be thinner, but not so thin that they are falling apart. Use a spatula to help lift them if necessary. Put enough oil in a heavy bottomed skillet (I used a cast iron one) to cover it and heat on medium until rippling. Season your patties with salt and pepper to taste. Fry patties for about 2 minutes each side, or until golden – do in smaller batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Blot on paper towels and then top with whatever your heart desires! (P.S. the boil -and-then-fry method is supposed to keep the patties crispy, even after cooling down.)

While the plantain was boiling, I prepared some toppings:

Shrimp – remove tails from precooked shrimp and “marinate” in some oil, the juice and zest from one lime, salt, pepper, garlic and chili powder (I actually did this before I started anything else, so they’d have time to “sit”). When the patacones were done, I pan-seared the shrimp in the remaining oil until a bit caramelized on the outside.

Avocado – smashed up with salt, pepper, and a bit of lime.

Tomato – simply cut into cubes, topped with a bit of dried basil.

Next Time – maybe lettuce or cabbage… maybe some other kind of protein… who knows! The possibilities are endless!

And voilà. Or whatever the Latin American equivalent of that may be. 😉

SO yummy! Although I still need to play around with thicknesses and seasoning/flavours a bit more… but, yay! A new and relatively easy dish to whip up whenever I want to bring home a plantain. Go me!!! =)