I love using familiar ingredients in unfamiliar ways. All of the ingredients in this dish are familiar to the FOODalogue kitchen but they’ve never appeared together this way before. The idea came to me as I looked at the lone plantain (soon to turn ripe) in my vegetable bowl. Then I remembered the leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge. The wheels started turning, the cabinet doors were flung open and I started pulling out the rest of the ingredients.
Pollo Criollo
2 cups shredded chicken (cooked)
olive oil
8 ozs tomato sauce
minced garlic + onion
cilantro
cumino
Adobo seasoning
white wine (about 1/4 cup)
Picante (hot sauce)
fresh lime juice
Spanish olives
capers
Saute garlic and onion in olive oil, add tomato sauce, white wine, olives, capers and cilantro. Cook down a little to meld flavors and fold in shredded chicken.
Finishing Touch. Squeeze of fresh lime and douse of hot sauce.
Plantain Pancake
green plantain
garlic
cilantro
pork rind*
canola oil
Blend a small clove of garlic with about a 1/2 cup of pork rinds and a few sprigs of cilantro. Julienne the plantain on a mandoline and toss together.
I preheated a small skillet with canola oil and then layered the mixture across the bottom, letting it toast on one side and when I felt it was sufficiently cooked and brown…I held my breath, crossed my fingers and inverted it on a plate (like an fritatta/tortilla/omelet) and slid it back into the pan. While the second side browned, I heeded the advice of my friend Norma of Platanos, Mangoes and Me and put a cover on the pan to be sure it was cooking inside. It worked!
Finishing Touch. A liberal douse of salt.
*I used snack food variety of pork rinds because I had them in the pantry. I, frankly, don’t know if they added anything to the plantain mix.
Serves 2.
19 Comments
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I enjoy a lot recipes that mix savory and mild sweet! I wonder why the Spanish name of Pollo criollo? Independently of the origin, all the dish looks scrumptious
Have a great week!
Gera
The plantain pancake looks good. Hmm, the pork rinds didn’t add anything to it? Those pork rinds drew me in! Hehehe. =D
(Re-commenting as I received an error message the first time.)
OK, I’m officially gob smacked!
Your creativity is always astounding plus I love the fact that I’m not the only one who cooks with pork rind! Brilliant Joan!
Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
You are one of these inventive people that can take anything and create something delicious Joan. I’ll bet if you had people show up for dinner unexpectedly they would eat like kings.
So when are you coming?
Que rico, Joan! Never ever tasted a green plantain, I wonder if it tastes similar to our plátano.
Yummmeeee. I will expect this to be on the menu at Casa Nova on my next trip to Florida.
This really looks finger lickin good.
I love plantains!!!!This sounds and looks amazing, Joan!Your pictures are beautiful.
Looks good. Plantain has such a unique flavor.I bet it goes very well with the pork! Have to try it. It’s very different.
Magda
I would like to see you on Chopped since you are so creative with any ingredient given to you- you would win for sure!
Thanks, but I think I would probably freeze “for sure”. I can’t even meet the challenge conceptually while sprawled on my lounge chair watching the show.
Oh, Joan! This is awesome. The pancake reminds of the aranitas I devoured while in PR. This is a great twist on aranitas/mofongo. And taking advantage of leftovers is such a Latin way of thinking.
I did something similar a few months ago with some soon to be too ripe plantains and a pork recipe gone awry. I turned them into a pastelon.
Will you be doing any challenges?
Yes, I’m look forward to participating in your challenges. Perhaps not this one because I’m a tofu virgin.
Wow, this looks fantastic!
I love the idea of plantain pancakes. I’m always looking for new and creative ways to use plantains so….this rocks
OOOh this looks very lovely and I am very fond of these Caribbean flavours:-)
ohhhhh, i love the plantain pancake! awesome idea!! this would be great for breakfast too w/ some eggs and salsa.
it’s like a plantain rosti, right? i feel like rosti was giant in the 80s and nobody makes it anymore. Joan, you’re bringing it back! I love the comment about it being like mofongo. I want to hurt myself on some mofongo right now.
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