Roasted Plantains w/ Cajeta & Pecans

Plantains are a bit of a wonder to me.  They look like bananas...they're even called plátano macho (large banana)...but that's about as far as the similarities go.  They're pleasantly meaty and starchy, resembling the taste and texture of a root vegetable. And I enjoy them.

But until now, I've only ever fried them.  Whether cut into rounds and fried once then smashed and fried again to make tostones or cut lengthwise and handled the same way to make the "bread" for jibaritos.  For this method, green plantains are usually used.  Or my favorite way which is to just slice them fairly thin on the bias and fry them once for one of my favorite desserts (put them hot from the oil on top of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with sweetened condensed milk).  But for those we use ripe (black) plantains.

This recipe calls for roasting the plantains.  And doing it when they are about as ripe as they'll get.  The blacker they are, the sweeter they are.  But even that isn't sweet like you'd normally think of sweet - just sweet for a plantain.

The crazy thing I noticed about roasting them, though?  The scent!  It's intoxicatingly musky like a vanilla bean on steroids.  If only I had known this before I started making this for dessert.  I would have taken the time to make my own cajeta, adding the seeds from a couple of vanilla beans while reducing the goat's milk.  Fortunately this will not be my last time making them, so that plan is on for the future!

If you enjoy desserts that aren't too sweet, you'd dig this one.  The sugar in this dessert comes from the amber drizzle of cajeta, but that rich sweetness is dampered by the toasted nuts and those oddly addicting roasted, earthy chunks of plantain.

Roasted Plantains w/ Cajeta & Pecans

by Heather Schmitt-González

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: roast dessert vegetarian caramel nuts plantains Mexican

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 small/medium plantains (black-ripe)
• ~3 oz. (~1 c.) pecan halves or pieces (or use walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts)
• ~½ c. cajeta (goat's milk caramel)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450° F.

Cut pointed ends off of each plantain, exposing just a bit of the flesh. Make a shallow slit through the skinn on the inner (curved) side of each plantain. Lay on a baking sheet. Roast until completely soft, ~20 minutes.

In the meantime, toast the nuts in an ungreased skillet over medium-low heat until toasty and fragrant. Set aside. Heat the cajeta in the microwave or gently in a small saucepan over low heat.

When plantains are finished roasting, remove from oven. When they've cooled down just a bit...enough to handle...peel back the skin and slice into ~½" chunks. Pile into a mound on top of the skin on a serving plate. Drizzle with cajeta and sprinkle with toasted nuts.

slightly adapted from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless

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IHCC theme: It was all Yellow

Homemade Cajeta and Paletas de Cajeta

I know, I know...my cajeta is totally anemic.  I cooked it.  I let it bubble away.  I began to worry that I'd be left with a mere spoonful to pass amongst my eager family.  So, I turned off the heat.  I huffed and puffed over my tasting spoon I refused to lose any tastebuds due to impatience.  I sent out a silent wish as the spoon slid into my mouth.  I did a happy dance.  Because while the cajeta I buy from the market is deep-amber in color and the thick liquid on the stove looked more of a burnt-straw...it tasted the just the same.  No.  It tasted better!  Because I made it.  And doesn't that always make food a little sweeter?

Now, let's talk about my family's new favorite popsicle.  Creamy, delicious, tastes-of-Cajeta, flecked with vanilla beans...and yes, slightly anemic.  We couldn't get enough.  Use homemade or store-bought cajeta to whip a batch of these babies.  You will not be disappointed.  Heck I bet they'd be great with any variety of caramel.

Rum Raisin Ice Cream with Cajeta

What is it about Rum Raisin Ice Cream that seems so classy?  Oh, wait...that's just me who sees it that way?  Well, okay.  But it's true, I've always seen it like that.  Rum Raisin: the Sophisticate's Ice Cream.  Could that explain why I've never eaten before now?  I mean, I can be sophisticated if the moment calls for it, but that's not one of the words that I'd pull out of my proverbial hat when someone asks me for three words to describe myself.  If you know what I'm sayin'.  But anyhoo...I figured since I was riding the rum train right now, I'd finally cross it off my my never-shrinking, ever-growing "to make" list.

I found a great book that I sticky-tabbed up like crazy, but the very first page I happened upon when I picked it up to flip through it at the library, happened to contain Rum Raisin.  A sign.  I think that perhaps it's partly just the romance of rum-macerated raisins that seems all-grown-up to me.  And though I joke when I stick words like "classy" and "sophisticated" on this ice cream, it's really not all that far from the truth.  It really is an ice cream for grown-ups.  My oldest ate a bowl and promptly declared himself drunk.  Pshaw, as if he'd know.  Middle child took one bite and ptooey-ed all over the yard.  That left Sweet Thang.  He "just said no".  As in...he wasn't even gonna go there.  However.  The adults in the family enjoyed this batch.  It was sort of strange to me.  I mean, raisins in ice cream.  I must have initially been more focused on the rum part.  Raisins are kind of a weird addition to frozen dessert, if you ask me.  I thought they needed a little foil, for which a rich ribbon of Cajeta was perfect.  Mexi likes it alot because it brings back memories of when he was a bodybuilder.  Huh!?  Really.  His trainer would give him a big bowl of Rum Raisin Ice Cream on the morning of competition.  For warming up the veins?  I dunno...that's my slightly uneducated guess.  And personally, I'm not going to declare this my favorite new ice cream or anything, but I did enjoy it and I can see myself getting cravings for it every now and again.  But I will definitley add cajeta to all future batches.

Rum Raisin Ice Cream with Cajeta 

adapted from Scoop: 125 Specialty Ice Creams
yield: ~1 qt.

⅔ c. raisins
½ c. light rum (I used my bottle of DonQ Cristal)
2 c. heavy whipping cream, divided
¾ c. whole milk
½ c. superfine sugar
¼ c. light corn syrup
2 Tbs. nonfat dry milk powder
2 Tbs. cornstarch
pinch of kosher salt
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract

cajeta (goat's milk caramel), for serving*

Combine raisins and rum in a small saucepan and heat until just simmering.  Remove from heat, cover pan, and allow raisins to macerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 day (I went about 8 hours).

Combine 1½ c. of the cream with the milk, sugar, and corn syrup in a pan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture begins to steam...watching carefully to make sure it doesn't come to a boil.

While mixture heats, combine remaining cream with milk powder, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla in a small bowl.  Stir until smooth and powders have dissolved (and formed a slurry of sorts).

Whisk cornstarch mixture into pan and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly.  Whisk until smooth, simmering and stirring constantly for ~2 minutes, or until thickened.  If lumpy, strain.  Stir the raisin rum mixture in to the "custard".

Transfer hot liquid to a storage container and press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto surface (so it doesn't form a skin).  Refrigerate until completely chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions and then transfer to a storage container and freeze until hard.

Serve on a pool of cajeta. *Cajeta was a last minute addition...and I thought it was a match made in heaven.  I will probably stir a good cup full (at least) into the ice cream when transferring to storage container next time so that it has ribbons of the rich goat's milk caramel in every scoop.

Okay, I know somebody's going to ask if this really freezes because of the large-ish amount of alcohol in it.  Yes, it really does.  I don't know how.  I don't know why.  But it really, really does.  It was pretty loose (which had me worried) after the ice cream machine finished it's cycle...but once I transferred it to a freezer container and let it sit in the freezer for a few hours, it was just as firm as any other type of ice cream.

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Tasty Tuesday at Naptime Creations

Fried Ice Cream w/ Fat Toad Cinnamon Cajeta

Winning is good.  Food is great. Winning food totally rocks!  That's one of the awesome benefits of being a member of the Foodie Blogroll.  They have contests and giveaways every month for members.   It simply requires checking in every now and again...perhaps following a link and checking out a product that has been donated for a giveaway...leaving a comment on the forum...updating your profile...simple stuff that as foodies we would probably do without thinking twice on any given day.  Well, by simply commenting I won two jars of eyes-rolling-back-in-your-head-bliss!   That would be goat's milk caramel...otherwise known as cajeta.  Now, I was first introduced to cajeta by Mexi...it's something he grew up spreading on bread, or just eating from a spoon as a treat....or sandwiched between to wafers.  Oh man, it's good stuff. 

 Fat Toad Farm is a small family-run goat dairy located in the hills of Central Vermont that produces both goat's milk caramel and goat cheese...ahhhh, that must be a little slice of heaven, doncha think!?  They make "small-scale artisanal batches...spend hours hand stirring our caramel and labeling and packaging" it.  The ONLY bad part was having to choose only 2 of their 4 varieties of cajeta.  Since I'd only ever had original before, I went with the cinnamon and vanilla bean varieties...they also have coffee bean.  Guess I'll have to actually order some of that on my own.  Which I will, cuz the others rocked my world!  A word of warning- you may want to hide a jar in a cupboard that only you know about.  Otherwise you'll have to share.

awesome box of  Fat Toad Farm Cajeta

Okay, in order stop myself from just eating both jars just like this which is far easier to do than you might think...

...I decided that I should eat it with ice cream.  Oh ho-lee mother, it is the perfect ice cream accompaniment.  I even sautéed up some chunked apples in butter and then mixed some cinnamon cajeta in...too good to even stop to photograph.  Seriously.  But what I was really craving was some Fried Ice Cream.  I haven't had it in ages!  I used to order it from a local Mexican restaurant for dessert all the time...only drizzled with honey, which I totally love drizzled on ice cream, btw.  As I started thinking about it, I knew I HAD to have it! I asked Mexi if he had ever heard of fried ice cream...and just as I expected, he had not.  I figured it wasn't actually a Mexican dessert...just something our restaurant likes to pass off as one.  No matter, though...that cold delicious ball of ice cream surrounded by a hot, crunchy layer is good no matter its origins.  It was something you could order drizzled with honey, chocolate, or caramel sauce.  As I said, I always ordered honey. Always.  But if they had served it with actual CAJETA, I may have had a whole different ordering scheme!

Now, on to the actual making of the fried ice cream.  I'd never actually made it at home, but how hard could it be?  Turns out, not that hard. 

Fried Ice Cream w/ Fat Toad Farm's Cinnamon Cajeta

from the kitchen of girlichef

Vanilla Ice Cream

Corn Flakes

Cinnamon

Sugar

egg, beaten

oil, for frying

Fat Toad Farm Cinnamon Cajeta

Make a big ball of ice cream...as big as you want.  Wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze for a few hours, until very hard.  

Pour enough oil into a deep pot, enough to deep-fry the ball of ice cream that you made.  Heat it until it's very hot...maybe 350°-375° F.  

While the oil is heating, pour a bunch of corn flakes into a gallon-sized baggy...enough to fill it ~1/3 of the way.  Pour in some cinnamon and some sugar.  Zip it closed and crush it up finely with a rolling pin (roll it back and forth until it is a pretty fine crumb).

Drop the hard ice cream ball into the baggy and press the mixture onto the outside.  Transfer it to the beaten egg and roll around to coat.  Place it back into the baggy, packing the corn flake crumbs onto the outside of the ball until VERY well coated.

Drop immediately (and carefully) into the hot oil and move it around a bit with a large, slotted spoon/skimmer.  This all happens very, very quickly.  Pull it back and serve immediately...drizzled with a lot of Cinnamon Cajeta!  Fry up a flour tortilla in advance to use as an edible bowl if you so desire...which I did.  So desire.

Not to sound all school yard bullyish...but, TRY THIS OR ELSE!  I mean honestly, if you've never eaten fried ice cream...you're totally missing out.  You should totally also join the Foodie Blogroll...so you can win cool prizes like this.  Or not...that just means more chances for me...and I like more chances to win.  Because after all, winning food totally rocks, right? Right.

*I won this product through Foodie Blogroll and was sent my prize for free from Fat Toad Farms, I reviewed it because I enjoyed it so much, not because I was compensated or under any obligation.

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