Mofongo con Camarones (“Mashed” Plantains with Shrimp)

Mofongo con Camarones

Wondering where I was going with my last post?  Probably not, but it wasn’t for no reason.  How to Peel Plantains helps us with this recipe. Last night I thought I would do some “down home cooking” and made Mofongo con Camarones (Mashed Plantains with Shrimp).  I love mofongo it is one of my favorite ways to eat plantains, but it isn’t exactly figure friendly.  Last night I decided I was going to make an effort to make it a little more figure friendly.  I do not really know if I managed to accomplish it but it turned out pretty darn good, except for the fact that I was a little heavy handed with the garlic, so I will be cutting it in the recipe.  If you want more garlic you can always add more.

Also, my initial plan on how to prepare the dish did not go over so well, so I had to make some adjustments to “save” it.  Because of this my visual step-by-step “tutorial” is going to be a little incomplete.

Mofongo is usually made by cutting plantains into slices and deep frying them until they are cooked through.  Then you transfer them into a mortar and pestle and mash with garlic and pork rinds.   I tried to make it a little more “friendly” by baking the plantains instead of frying them.

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees.  First peel two plantains.

Cut the plantains long ways, following the curve of the plantain.

Once you have them all sliced.

Cut the slices in half

Spray baking sheet with olive oil and place slices on cookie sheet, spray or brush the plantain slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Place the plantains in the oven and bake for 15 mins.

Remove plantains from the oven and place slices in a food processor

Add 3 cloves of minced garlic

2 Tbs of olive oil

Pulse in processor till you have chunky crumbles.

Like these

Now this is where I had to make a few adjustment.  The idea originally was to put the plantain mixture in a oven proof bowl and bake for another 10 minutes.  I was hoping to end up with a bowl of the plantain and fill it with the shrimp but that did not work out.  First the shape did not hold and second the texture was too brittle.  So this is what I recommend.

After the above step, take the crumbles and spread them out on a baking sheet, bake and additional 10 mins.

Remove from the oven and put the crumbles back in the food processor, turn it on while drizziling about 1/4 cup of olive oil in it, add a generous pinch of salt.  Taste decided if you need more salt or garlic.

Once you are happy with the taste, add 3/4 cup of pork crumbles or pork rinds, pulse a few time just to break up the pork rhine.

Press the mixture into a small bowl, set aside.

Now while the plantains are in the oven, the second time around you can prepare the shrimp.

First you need to get your skillet nice and hot.  Mince 2 cloves of garlic.  ( I know I LOVE garlic)

Add 2 Tbs of olive oil to the skillet. No worries my skillet isn’t dirty, I just accidentally dribbled some sauce into the skillet, from the beans in the back.

Add 1 Tbs of vinegar. Stand back because its going to sizzle.

Add your minced garlic, saute for a few minutes.

Add a big spoonful of recaito.

Add another big spoonful of sofrito.  Yeah I know my hand it all twisted, I am trying to give you the shot.

Add 1/2 an envelope of sazon.

Add green olives, I put about 8 in.

Saute for about 2 minutes.

Finally add the shrimp.  I used about 1 1/2 cup, appox 20 medium shrimp.

Saute till shrimp curls and turns pink, appox 7 mins.   Ahhh so yum-E!

Remove from heat and put in a bowl, you don’t want over cooked shrim, it will continue to cook with it’s own heat.

Place on dish and invert mofongo on top, garnish with cilantro and dig in!  Soooooo yummy.

So here is the BREAKDOWN!   Serves 2.

Mofongo

2 plantains, peeled & sliced
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup of olive oil, plus 2 Tbs
1/2 cup pork rinds
salt

Preheat oven at 350 degrees, spray or brush baking sheet with olive oil.

Place plantain slices on baking sheet, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, bake for 10 minutes.

Remove plantains from oven and place in food processor, add garlic, 2 Tbs of olive oil, pulse until you have large crumbles of plantain.

Spread plantain crumbles on baking sheet, bake another 10 minutes.

Place plantain crumbles back into the food processor, turn on while drizzling 1/4 cup of olive oil, add generous pinch of salt. You will end up with minced plantains that clump together.

Add pork rinds and pulse about 6 times, just to break up the pork rinds.

Press mixture into a small bowl and invert onto plate to serve

Garlic Shrimp

20 medium sized shrimp
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs vinegar
3 Tbs Sofito
3 Tbs Recatio
1/2 envelope sazon
8 green olives

Heat skillet at medium-high heat, add olive oil, vinegar, and garlic, saute.

Add sofito, recaito, sazon and olives, saute 2 minutes.

Finally add shrimp and saute for appox 7 minutes, until the shrimp curls and turns pink.

Remove shrimp from pan, serve hot.

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