Mexican plantains with vanilla cream: Postre de platanos con vainilla

Karen Hursh Graber

This is my own adaptation of a popular Mexican street food, fried plantains topped with sweetened condensed milk. This dressed-up version — plaintains with vanilla cream — uses whipped cream flavored with vanilla and sherry. Plantains should be nearly black when they are ripe enough to use in a sweet dish.

Ingredients

• 3 large, ripe plantains, sliced in half lengthwise
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup sherry, preferably Tres Coronas or other sweet Mexican sherry

In a large skillet, sauté the plantains in the butter until golden brown on both sides, turning once. Place in a shallow baking dish, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and keep warm in a low oven.
Whip the cream with the remaining sugar; add vanilla and sherry. Remove the plantains from the oven and serve at once topped with cream. Serves 6.