Fried Plantains

During our trip through Arizona, we happened to visit a Cuban restaurant, where plantains were a garnish on our plates.  I had never tried them before and I fell in love with their starchy sweet flavor.  While in Mexico, they were always in the stores and I found them a wonderful accompaniment to the Mexican Hot Cakes I made with masa harina.

Breakfast Plantains

Peel and slice plantains as desired.  (vertically or crosswise) to about ¼” widths.

Heat coconut or other oil of your choice in a frying pan and add plantain slices.

Cook until plantains turn golden brown, then turn and brown on the opposite side. Drizzle honey over the cooked plantains and stir to coat.  Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon, if desired.

Serve over Mexican pancakes or as an accompaniment to any other suitable dish.

Mango Salsa

Mango Salsa

1 large mango, diced to about ½”

½ red onion, diced to ¼”

½ red pepper, diced to ¼”

½ jicima, diced to ¼” (optional)

¼ cup diced cilantro

Juice of 2 limes

Excellent on fish or chicken.

Below, the same recipe with 1/4 finely diced jicima added. The jicima added a nice crunch, but we prefer Mango Salsa without the jicima.

 

Puerto Penasco - Mexican Fishing Village

 We just got back from a wonderful trip to Puerto Penasco, a fishing village on the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.  It is just 60 miles south of the US border and just a fun 4 hour drive from Phoenix, Arizona.  Our visit was precipitated by the fact that my sister owns a home there, and we would be meeting her and staying at her place.

Puerto Penasco is a fabulous place to visit if you enjoy fresh fish and shrimp, as these are available fresh off the boat in the Old Port area.  Above - a picture of the shrimp boats anchored at Old Port.  April is not shrimp season, so most of the shrimp boats were here in port.

Below, a picture I snapped from the patio at the beach house.  Fishermen were out with nets early in the morning.  I watched them pull in a few shiny silvery fish and I also saw them throwing a few back!

 When we went down to the fish market, we were thrilled to see many different whole fish on ice.

This mackerel with it's smooth skin was a favorite pick!

Tomorrow, I'll tell more about preparing them for dinner!