Platanos al Caramelo

Happy Friday! We made it through another week and I’m so glad it’s the weekend! Any fun plans in your corner of the world? I’m especially excited this weekend since the Baron and I will be taking a little getaway out to a state park for some hiking and relaxation. It’ll be fun to enjoy the outdoors. To conclude our week of Spanish Tapas, I bring you the dessert we prepared – Platanos al Caramelo. These are sauteéd ripened plantains served with vanilla bean ice cream, drizzled with caramel and garnished with pistachios to put them over the top. These will have you saying, ‘Ole!’…

When trying to decide what to serve for dessert, I had a few things come to mind. I ultimately chose this dish for the Spanish Tapas cooking party because it was easy and it was my favorite dessert on the menu of one of the tapas restaurants I used to live by in Chicago – Emilio’s. It’s no longer in business in my old neighborhood of Lincoln Park, but I’m thankful that I snagged one of their menus during my last visit years ago. They served this dish and it was simple, sweet and really finished the meal perfectly.

You can substitute the plantains with regular bananas if you cannot find plantains. And if you do have plantains but they aren’t fully ripe or black skinned, try placing them in a brown paper bag for a couple days to encourage them to ripen faster in a day or two.

Platanos al Caramelo
recipe inspired by Emilio’s Restaurant

2 large overripe {black skinned} plantains
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil for frying
vanilla ice cream
caramel for serving
1/4 cup pistachios, crushed

Peel and cut the plantains in bite sized pieces on a bias or diagonal.

Roll each piece in brown sugar.

In a large skillet, heat the oil for frying. When hot, add some of the sugar coated plantains and fry until golden and the sugar begins to melt. Transfer cooked plantains to a serving platter and repeat with remaining plantains.

To serve, portion out the plantains to individual serving pieces, top with ice cream, drizzle with caramel and garnish with pistachios.