What We Eat!

A lot of people seem to want to read about what kinds of foods/dishes we eat here.  I like to keep my public happy, so here is a quick post on a simple lunch we had today that's a pretty typical, everyday meal.  I sautéed some bife acebolado [steak with onions] to go along with some puréed black beans that were cooked with oil, salt, garlic, and green onions.  Today we had a side dish that we don't normally make.  Hubby says he doesn't know what it is called, but we first had it at his mom's house.  It's really simple and super delicious!  You will need the following ingredients:

• 2 small, ripe plantains [or 1 large, ripe plantain] about 1 cup's worth
• 1 large collard green leaf
• 2 cups cooked white rice
• Oil
• Salt

We had leftover white rice, but otherwise I would just prepare the rice in the usual fashion for this dish.  First, I chopped the plantains into chunks and sliced the collard greens into thin strips.

Next, I covered the bottom of a small sauté pan with oil and put the burner on medium-high heat.  Once the oil had heated up enough, I added the plantains to the pan.  I kept an eye on them, stirring once after a few minutes.  You are looking for the plantains to start to brown and caramelize.

Pure deliciousness

Once the plantains had finished cooking, I took them out of the pan with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate lined with paper towel to cool and get rid of some excess oil.  Once the plantains cooled, I just combined the rice, collard greens [uncooked] and plantains.

The colors!

I added some salt to taste to counter the absolutely dreamy sweetness of the plantains.  This dish is so yummy because the rice fills you up, the collard greens are still fresh and a little crunchy, and the plantains are just a tiny bit crispy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth sweet inside.  When Hubby's mom made this, she also added some cooked, rinsed black beans and a chopped fried egg.  It's a versatile dish that lets you add and subtract ingredients to suit your palate.  Not pictured is the fresh pineapple juice I made.

So this is what we had for lunch today and it was a hit.  Little Man loved it and made a big enough mess that he had to be hosed down in the shower before his nap.