(Guess I got your attention didn’t I?)
It’s almost autumn and I am dreaming of foods that are my favorite for this time of the year. Southern-style cornbread dressing has always been at the top of my list for Thanksgiving. But this year as we celebrate having Thanksgiving with our family in TN, I am going to go “out of the box” and introduce everyone to mofongo!
What is mofongo? Wikipedia defines it as ultimately of African origin and traced to both Puerto Rican & Dominican cuisine. You’ve seen those lonely looking green plantains at the grocery store and wondered what to do with them. Well I have the answer if you are looking for some down-home island style comfort food! Barring all carb-control, I think mofongo is a great replacement for mash potatoes, rice and other starchy side dishes.
There are two things we have to have every season when we travel through Puerto Rico on our way to and from our charter yacht the British Virgin Islands: mojitos and mofongo! Ok, so maybe we have to have some tostones (fried plantains), rice & beans and lechon (whole roasted pig) too! Typically, mofongo is served in a tall wooden pestle style bowl. Delivered to your table, the mofongo ingredients are prepared and then mashed with mortar in a wooden bowl.
Since I don’t have any tall wooden bowls, I like the adaptation of the recipe below:
Plantain Mofongo
Ingredients:
2 green plantains
Vegetable oil for frying
1 tablespoon olive oil (not extra virgin)
2 cloves garlic
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ ounce bacon
2 teaspoon saffron broth
8 Jumbo Shrimp Peeled and Deveined
Procedure:
1. To make it easier to peel the plantains: Under running warm water and cut off ½ inch from both ends of the plantains. Using a sharp knife, score the skin lengthwise in three different sections. Slide the tip of the knife or your finger under the skin and begin to pull it away, going from top to bottom.
2. In a frying pan or deep fryer, heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil to 350º F. Cut the plantains into 1 inch pieces (or ½-inch for smaller tostones), and add to the hot oil. Fry for about 6 minutes until they start turning golden and are tender inside. Remove from the oil, and drain on paper towel.
3. Prepare the mofongo: Oil the inside of a deep wooden or glass bowl with the olive oil. Add the garlic and ¼ teaspoon of salt and, with a wooden spoon, pound the garlic to a paste. Add half of the fried plantains to the bowl and pound to a coarse mash, incorporating the garlic paste as you pound. Add the bacon, saffron broth and the remaining pieces of plantain. Season with 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and pound to mash the newly added plantain and incorporate the others ingredients. Rotate the bowl as you go, pounding with a downward motion toward the sides of the bowl. Once the mixture is mashed spoon it into a ramkin or 4oz bowls. After molding & smoothing out the surface, flip onto a plate. At this point the mofongo should look like a half dome.
4. Saute shrimp in a little oil or butter and cook until done place over the Mofongo and top with the saffron broth.
Saffron Broth
Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic, 2 pinches of saffron, 1/4 C Unsalted Butter, 1 Cup organic chicken broth, Salt, Fresh green peas
Procedure:
1. Thinly slice 2 garlic cloves, while preheating sauté pan at medium temperature. Add butter and the garlic and bring up temperature to high. Sauté for a couple of minutes and add 1 cup of chicken broth, bring to a boil and add more butter until you have a nice and smooth consistency. Add 2 pinches of saffron , and salt to taste. Allow saffron to incorporate an even color by stirring lightly. Lastly add the peas and cook further a couple of minutes.
This decadent dessert began with a wonderful fall lunch on the patio at the Cheesecake Factory near Nashville, TN. We’ve always been fascinated with their desserts! On that day, we tried this amazing layered dessert which combined both of our favorite Thanksgiving desserts. 
having fun and sailing around the Caribbean. It is a BIG business. It is BIG work! And, it is not for the faint of heart! Imagine owning a bed and breakfast in the Caribbean, except that it is a boat! If something breaks there is no one to call except your personal skills in fixing it; generators, ice makers, electrical, plugged plumbing, air conditioning break downs, sheets and sail issues, and on and on. Are you getting the picture that is not just sailing in Paradise and keeping sun screen on? The “job” of a charter yacht owner/crew is to produce an extraordinary tropical yacht vacation experience for every guest…for every week of charters. And, if that is not delivered to their charter guests they will not have a “Caribbean floating bed and breakfast” business for very long...
