Sweet Plantain Soup With Pineapple Blood Orange Salsa Food

PLANTAIN SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook until the onions are soft and browned, 8 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken stock, plantains, cilantro, bay leaves and cumin, and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cook at a bare simmer, uncovered, until the plantains are very tender, 45 minutes.
• Transfer half of the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. *When blending hot liquids, fill the blender less than halfway full, place the lid askew and pulse the liquid at first to release some heat, otherwise, your blender top could pop! Stir the pureed soup back into the pot with the remaining chunky soup and mix well. If the soup is too thick for your taste add more chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
• *When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.

SWEET PLANTAIN SALSA WITH TOSTONES

Steps:

• In a bowl combine beans, corn kernels, pepper, red onion, jalapenos and cilantro. Add lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Cut ends off plantains and peel. Cut plantains on the bias so that resulting slices are about 1/2-inch thick. In a large nonstick sautepan over medium to high heat, heat oil. Saute plantains in batches until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove fried plantains to paper towels to drain and sprinkle with salt, if desired. Chop cooled plantains into ?-inch dice and add to bean mixture. Serve with Tostones (see recipe below)
• TOSTONES: Cut ends off plantains and peel. Cut plantains so that resulting slices are 1-inch round pieces. In a large nonstick sautepan over medium to high heat, heat about 1/2-inch oil. Fry plantains in batches until golden and softened, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from sautepan and drain. Flatten cooked plantain pieces by pressing with heavy sautepan, until they are about 1/4-inch thick. Briefly dip in a bowl of warm salted water and drain. Return flattened plantains to hot oil and fry again, in batches, until golden, about 3 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Serve with Sweet Plantain Salsa (see recipe above Yield: about 3 dozen tostones.)

MARCO'S PLANTAIN SALSA

Steps:

• In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter with the canola oil. Add the onions and saute with the garlic and leeks until translucent. Add the plantains and continue sauteing for 5 minutes. Add the bonito flakes and allspice and continue sauteing for 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and reduce into a coarse puree, keeping some texture to it. Add a little water if too thick. Season with salt and pepper.

SEAN'S SWEET SALSA

Steps:

• In a medium bowl mix together the garlic, ginger and onion with the lime juice. Stir in remaining ingredients and season to taste. Serve with chips, seafood and vegetables

SWEET & SPICY MANGO PINEAPPLE SALSA

Steps:

• Peel and cut mango into cubes, discard seed.
• Dice pineapple, saved juice.
• All other ingredients can be diced in the food processor. Careful not to over "pulse" to too fine a texture.
• Combine all ingredients and let sit for one hour or more before serving.
• Serve with tortilla chips.
• Notes:.
• Use more or less of your favorite ingredients.
• Sometimes the jalapenos are not very spicy, feel free to add hot sauce (Tobasco) to spice it up if desired.

ORANGE & PINEAPPLE SALSA

Steps:

• Peel the oranges and remove all the white pith.
• Separate the orange sections from the membranes and cut each section into 1/4-inch pieces.
• In a large bowl mix the oranges, pineapple, onion, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt, using a large spoon.
• Refrigerate or serve at room temperature.

PLANTAIN SOUP

Steps:

• Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.
• Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic.
• Cook, uncovered, for 3-4 minutes, or until onions are soft but not brown.
• Add 4 cups of chicken stock/broth and bring to boil over high heat.
• Add plantains, most of the cilantro (reserve a few tablespoons for garnish), cumin, and bay leaf.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Return to boil.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered for 40-50 minutes or until plantains very tender.
• Remove and discard bay leaf.
• Transfer half the soup to blender; puree until smooth.
• Return to the pan.
• If soup is too thick, add a little more stock/broth.
• Season with more salt/cumin if desired.