Sweet Plantain Soup With Pineapple Blood Orange Salsa Recipes

Steps:

• Moisten a paper towel with cooking oil; using long-handled tongs, lightly coat the grill rack. Grill pineapple, covered, over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Grill jalapenos until tender, turning occasionally., Let pineapple and peppers cool slightly; finely chop and transfer to a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients. Chill at least 2 hours. Before serving, allow salsa to come to room temperature.

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.

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.

Steps:

• In a small glass bowl, combine all the ingredients for the salsa and toss together gently. Cover and refrigerate for up to 4 hours before using. In a large heavy skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the plantains with their flat sides down and saute for about 2 minutes, or until slightly softened but not brown. Turn to the other side, add the oregano, leeks and parsnips, cover the pan and cook until all the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer the vegetables to a food processor and puree until smooth, pulsing the machine and scraping down the sides of the machine as necessary. Add 2 cups of the chicken stock, puree to mix, and transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan. Whisk in the remaining chicken stock and the milk, add the lemon juice, and place the pan over mediumhigh heat. When the soup comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the salt and pepper. Serve in shallow soup bowls, garnished with a dollop of the salsa.

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.)

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.