A Week in Their Kitchen 2: Baked Bean Dogs and Plantain Chips
I had the great honour/pleasure/good fortune of interviewing Barbara Kingsolver a year or so ago (when her book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle came out) and she said one thing in particular that stuck in my mind: we all have a childlike approach to dinner, she said. As it comes to be mealtime we think, what do I feel like having for dinner, rather than, what do we have? She was referring of course to eating locally and seasonally, but it certainly applies here. We’re so accustomed to deciding on dinner based on our moods and cravings.
Yesterday I was panicked at the prospect of getting through a dozen plantains. Today at 5 o’clock, as I made plantain chips, I thought – aren’t we lucky to get to sit around the table and enjoy such a dinner together, even if it’s not something we might have gone and chosen ourselves.
And really, I’m glad to have been pushed out of my comfort zone. The boys were out front kicking the ball around. Some neighbours stopped to chat. I brought out some freshly cooked and salted plantain chips. Everyone munched and chatted, and the plantains became a conversation piece. In how many countries of the world would this have been considered a feast?
Their presence also made me consider any immigrants who use the food bank and are happy to see something familiar in their bins. They might pick up a box of Kraft Dinner or cotton candy Jell-O and ask the same: “what the hell do I do with this??” Really, I want to be more familiar with cooking plantains than with Jell-O.
Ben considered himself lucky to get Top Dogs for dinner. We turned the TV on to the news and coincidentally a commercial came on for them as I was slicing plantains. Ben, watching it, suddenly turned and asked, “what’s for dinner?”
“Those,” I said.
“REALLY?? ALRIGHT!”
Then he walked over to the table and asked, “what’s with all the candy?”
Ali, Ben and Emily came for dinner tonight before soccer, and we had hot dogs topped with baked beans on peppered hoagie buns, and coleslaw (our ingredient freebies include oil, vinegar and sugar, so I shook some up in a jar) and plantain chips. I like that there is enough here to accommodate a few extra for dinner. I imagine kids who are clients of the food bank might like to be able to invite their friends to stay for dinner once in awhile.
Plantain chips are quite delicious – sweeter than potatoes but not quite sweet potato-esque, they remind me, flavour-wise, of raisins. The secret is to slice them as thinly as you can, then cook them in hot canola oil (I heated a half inch until hot but not smoking) until deep golden. Drain on paper towels and shower with coarse salt.
My chef/neighbour/friend says they’re great in a curry. I can’t wait to try it. Just as soon as I have access to coconut milk and rice.
Over at Family Kitchen: (Low Fat!) Two Bite Brownies
One Year Ago: Bacon Bison Avocado Sandwiches
June 01 2010 07:08 pm | leftovers
miss v on 01 Jun 2010 at 7:33 pm #
you’ve interviewed BK!?! i have loads of questions the next time we see each other!!
Theresa on 01 Jun 2010 at 8:58 pm #
Hi Julie-thank you for sharing your perspectives on trying to plan meals with food from a food bank. I try to donate as much as possible to food banks, so please let us know what you think are the most versatile/useful foods to donate. I see a lot of canned oysters and such in the bins and I wonder what people are supposed to do with them.
Angela on 01 Jun 2010 at 9:17 pm #
Tonite’s meal looks good. I’m sure the kids thought it was a great treat. Did the food bank give you any ‘meat’ besides hot dogs?
Can’t wait to read about all the meals your going to prepare this week. Breakfast and lunch too.
JulieVR on 01 Jun 2010 at 9:28 pm #
Angela – yes, they gave us two cans of tuna, but that was it for meat. I’ll have to use the tuna in the box of generic Hamburger Helper..
JulieVR on 02 Jun 2010 at 8:18 am #
Theresa – so far I’m thinking the most useful things to donate are beans – what I usually donate – the problem being so many people don’t know what to do with them! I know they’re rarely short of bread products – I certainly am not. Pastas and sauces seem useful – and people know how to cook them. I’m going to start getting kids’ vitamins – they say no vitamin is required as the food hampers are nutritionally balanced, but I beg to differ…
Barb on 02 Jun 2010 at 1:25 pm #
The dogs look very good! I have wondered what to do with plantains myself. I even asked a lady who had a dozen or so in her cart what she was going to do with them and she was tickled I would be interested enough to ask. She said to fry them but I don’t think she meant to use as much oil. (I haven’t tried them yet)
Barb on 02 Jun 2010 at 1:29 pm #
Oh, about donations – I once put a bag together that contained what would go together for a whole meal. “They” frowned at it and said that was not the way they wanted dontations because people have such different tastes. Ok. They want basics. (Generic) P butter, macaroni, beans, pasta sauce. I like to include some sweets myself but maybe that’s just me as well.
angiebean on 02 Jun 2010 at 4:03 pm #
Those plantains looked great!
They probably could have used a few more days of ripening before cooking though. They are best when the skins are totally black.
They’re great as a dessert. A little coating of oil in a pan, slice the plantains, cook, then season with a little sugar and cinnamon! Yummy!
This project is very interesting.
bean there on 02 Jun 2010 at 9:15 pm #
great theme for the week julie. i hope that this will give people food for thought regarding the food they donate to food banks.i think though, alot of the empty calorie items are actually inserted in the systems by the huge food manufacturers for whatever reasons. i know – i help at my church and they send truckloads of what i would not dream of serving to my family.
Erica B. on 02 Jun 2010 at 10:28 pm #
bean there: manufacturers/stores will send mislabeled or damaged palets of goods to food banks in order get credit for the charitable donation so the damaged goods aren’t a total write off. Is it right? ah no… but at the same time food banks aren’t in a position to turn away food. Not every grocer or manufacturer does this kind of thing but it’s not unheard of.
Jennifer Jo on 03 Jun 2010 at 8:13 pm #
We ate lots of plantains when we lived in Nicaragua. When they are greenish, slice them thin and fry them. When they are very ripe, slice them in thick, long slices and top them with sour cream. Eaten alongside red beans, they are a marvelous treat.
Jennifer Jo on 06 Jun 2010 at 4:17 am #
Oops, I forgot to say that the thick slices also need to be fried before topping with crema. Raw plantains are NOT very good!