Sweet Plantains

This dish, like most good things in life, started with a Sesame Street segment.  As part of its liberal, hippie indoctrination, the show was always showing how children of different cultures sleep, go to school, dance, play, and eat (hey, everybody does it).  During one such episode, a mother made a dish that looked so good, I wanted to recreate it immediately.  Unfortunately, my younger self had never come across a plantain before, and I took the fruit on the television to be a banana.  Simple enough mistake, but bananas do not fry up the same way as plantains, and the result was, well, not exactly what I had expected.

Flash forward fifteen or so years, and I discovered my first plantain.  I immediately remembered my Sesame Street induced disappointment and knew that I had finally found my answer.  That mother wasn't frying up bananas - she was frying up their much starchier cousin, the plantain.

There's a Cuban restaurant near my old workplace that is famous for its plantains.  They make them two ways: garlicy and sweet.  The sweet plantains are so perfectly soft and syrupy, and I knew I had to recreate them at home.  I mastered the basic fried plantain long ago (fry, squish, fry again, salt), but I had never tried to make them sweet.  And so, with a Sesame Street memory in my head, I went for it.

These are as easy, if not easier, than their salty counterparts.  No need to squish and refry - simply cook them down in a sugary, cinnamon mess.  Then serve them up with a side of rice and beans (or in my case, shrimp and beans).  But I'm not so sure Sesame Street would approve of all the sugar (things have changed in that neighborhood since I was a kid).

Sweet Plantains
Serves 3-4 as a side

2 ripe plantains, cut into pieces
4 T butter
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t vanilla
pinch cinnamon

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the plantains, and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.  Make sure to flip them over half way through to brown both sides.  Add the sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon, and continue cooking for another two minutes.  Stir to coat the plantains, and serve immediately.