Platanos Rellenos de Picadillo Veracruzanos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry cast iron comal for toasting the chile ancho
• •Wide skillet or 12-inch clay cazuela for cooking the picadillo
• •Heavy frying skillet
• •Wooden spoon
• •Wire rack for draining

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the plantains

   Cut the ends off the platanos machos and score the skins lengthwise. Leave the fruit whole inside the peel. Place them in a pot, cover with water, and simmer for 18 to 22 minutes, until a knife slides through the flesh without resistance. The skins will split and the plantain will smell sweet and heavy. Drain well. Watery plantain makes weak dough.

2. 2

   Mash while warm

   Peel the plantains while they are still warm enough to mash. Put the flesh in a bowl with 1 tablespoon manteca de cerdo and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mash until smooth but not gluey. If you beat it like cake batter, it turns elastic. You want a soft masa that can wrap around the picadillo without cracking.

   The plantains must be ripe. Yellow-green plantains are for tostones, not this dish. Here you need sweetness against the salty picadillo.
3. 3

   Toast the chile

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho for about 20 seconds per side, just until it softens and smells fruity. Do not blacken it. Soak it in hot water for 15 minutes, then blend it with 1/4 cup of the soaking water until smooth. The ancho gives the picadillo color and depth, not brute heat. Not all Mexican food is trying to punish you.

4. 4

   Brown the meat

   Melt 1 tablespoon manteca de cerdo in a wide skillet or cazuela over medium-high heat. Add the beef and pork with 1/2 teaspoon salt and the black pepper. Cook until the meat loses its raw color and starts to brown at the edges, 7 to 9 minutes. Break it up with a wooden spoon, but do not turn it into paste. Picadillo should have texture.

5. 5

   Build the sofrito

   Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until it smells sharp and sweet. Stir in the tomatoes, blended chile ancho, canela, clove, Mexican oregano, and bay leaf. Lower the heat and cook until the tomato tightens and the fat begins to show at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. That is how you know the raw tomato has left the pan.

6. 6

   Finish the picadillo

   Stir in the olives, capers, raisins, and toasted almonds. Cook 5 minutes more, until the raisins plump and the mixture looks moist but not wet. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the parsley and taste for salt. The filling must be assertive because the plantain is sweet. This is the Veracruz Spanish-Mediterranean hand: briny olives, capers, raisins, and meat in one spoonful.

7. 7

   Shape the rellenos

   Let the picadillo cool until it is warm, not hot. Dust your hands lightly with flour. Divide the mashed plantain into 8 portions. Flatten one portion into an oval about 1/3 inch thick, spoon 2 tablespoons picadillo into the center, and fold the plantain around it. Seal the seam with your fingers and shape it into a fat torpedo. Repeat with the rest. No me vengas con atajos. If the filling is hot, the plantain will tear.

8. 8

   Coat for frying

   Brush each stuffed plantain lightly with beaten egg, then roll in fine breadcrumbs or ground bolillo crumbs. Press gently so the coating adheres. This thin crust protects the plantain in the lard and gives you a deep brown outside without losing the soft center.

9. 9

   Fry in lard

   Melt enough manteca de cerdo in a heavy skillet to come 1/2 inch up the sides. Heat over medium until a breadcrumb sizzles immediately when dropped in. Fry the stuffed plantains in batches, turning carefully, 2 to 3 minutes per side, until dark golden brown with mahogany spots. Do not crowd the pan. La manteca es el sabor, especially in Veracruz fried sides.

10. 10

    Drain and serve

    Drain on a wire rack or brown paper, not a stack of paper towels that traps moisture underneath. Serve warm on a banana leaf or green talavera plate with salsa de jitomate and a spoonful of black refried beans cooked with epazote and manteca. The black bean rules in Veracruz, not the pinto. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Buy platanos machos with mostly black skins and a little yellow showing. If they are firm and yellow, leave them on the counter for two or three days. The fruit must be sweet enough to balance the olives and capers.
• •Use black beans on the plate if you serve beans. Veracruz is not pinto country. Cook them with epazote and refry them in manteca de cerdo, not vegetable oil.
• •The picadillo must be moist but not soupy. If tomato juice runs across the pan, keep cooking. Wet filling breaks the plantain shell during frying.
• •The chile ancho is not there to make the dish hot. It gives fruit, color, and a quiet depth under the tomato. A dried chile guajillo can help with color, but it will not give the same rounded sweetness. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •If you cannot find capers and olives from a Mexican market, buy decent Spanish-style green olives and small capers packed in brine. Rinse the capers so they season the picadillo without taking over.

Advance Preparation

• •The picadillo can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Rewarm it gently before shaping so the fat softens, but do not use it hot.
• •The plantain masa can be cooked and mashed 1 day ahead. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate. Bring it to room temperature before shaping.
• •The rellenos can be shaped and coated up to 6 hours ahead. Hold them uncovered in the refrigerator so the surface dries slightly, then fry just before serving.
• •Fried rellenos reheat best in a 375F oven on a rack for 10 to 12 minutes. A microwave softens the crust. You worked for that crust, do not ruin it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 320g)