Tostones with Guacamole and Salmon

This week I had my first Fairy Chef dinner party. Sounds fancy don't it? Actually, it was just me, David, Tasha, and Nat drinking some vino while I plied them with my new creations. Now, Tasha and Nat are real foodies. When they talk about food, they sound like that crazy opera singer judge from the original Iron Chef that was obviously dubbed over by a cheerleader using her best porn voice, but she knows a thing or two about how food should be experienced.

So I started off the evening with an appetizer. Tostones (fried green plantains) served with fresh guacamole, and diced salmon. Now, here is what you are going to get from the Fairy Chef....honesty. At first, I wasn't particularly wowed by the combination. The flavors worked together but something wasn't quite right, but thanks to Nat I figured it out. I hadn't cooked most of the tostones long enough. The minute I had a toston that was crispy (I usually fry them twice but only fried them once this time), the combination of the texture of the tostone with the fresh guac and the salmon was D-I-V-I-N-E.

PS Eating guacamole with homemade tostones is WAY healthier than guac and chips!

Then we moved on to the main course. The main course was a pan fried tilapia, which I sauteed in a delicious mango/jalapeno/mushroom chutney. The chutney on the fish was so good that I thought we all might break out into a Bollywood moment and starting dancing and singing Tilapia to the tune of Jai Ho.

In the end, the dinner was a success. As I experiment further with the appetizer, I will update the recipe. But, here are this weeks recipes. I am breaking the recipes into two posts for easy searching.


Tostones con Guacamole y Salmon

3-4 green plantains
2 small salmon fillets
4-6 avocados
½ small red onion
1 jalapeno
2 limes
1/3 cup cilantro
6 cloves of garlic minced
2 plum tomatoes
1 cup canola oil
½ cup soy sauce
2 brown paper bags
¼ cup garlic salt

This is is a three part recipe...it is actually three recipes in one. I am magic. Ta-da! So, begin by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees. Place the two salmon fillets on a deep baking sheet (I use a small glass square baking pan), pour the soy sauce over the salmon, and then cover the baking pan with tin foil. Place the pan into the oven. It is going to take about 30-40 minutes for the salmon to bake. Check after 20 minutes and make sure it is cooking evenly. You don't need to flip the salmon over unless they are very thick fillets, if so, flip them at the 20 minute mark.

Now, while the salmon is baking away, you can begin preparing your guacamole.

Guacamole

Now it's been said that my guac may be the best guacamole in the world. Perhaps even the entire Milky Way. I hear that the Mexicans of the Andromeda Galaxy may have a better recipe, but I doubt it.

First mince your garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, red onion, and tomatoes. Put them all in a large mixing bowl. Take your avocados and halve them. Remove the giant pit. Now here is the fun part. Take each half and squeeze the ripe avocado out of its skin into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Next, grab the two limes and cut those in half. Squeeze the lime into the bowl. Make sure to dig your fingers into the meat of the lime to make sure you get the most juice out of each half. And next, the messy part......if you really want your guac to be well mixed...wash your hands...and then dig into the bowl. Squeeze the avocado and mix the ingredients by hand...squashing and squishing as you go. Once the guac is well mixed, add about a full teaspoon of salt, and then set aside.

If the salmon is finished cooking, remove from the oven, and set on a cutting board. Most salmon fillets come with a piece of skin on the underside of the fillet. After baking, this should be easy to peel off. Remove the skin and discard. Then, mince the salmon until it is in pieces that resemble canned salmon (yuck!). Place the salmon into a small serving bowl and set aside.

Now, making tostones is an art form. If you have had good tostones, you know what I am talking about. First lay out one brown paper bag on the counter. Set the second aside, nearby. Next peel your plantains. The skin on a plantain is much thicker than a banana, and it is attached tightly to the fruit. You will need to use a large knife to make a slit down the length of the plantain. Once they are peeled, you want to cut it into pieces about the size and thickness of a quarter, more or less. Next, in a large skillet heat your canola oil. Once it is sizzling hot, add the plantains to the oil. Fry the plantains until they start to brown, flip them over and brown the other side. This will take about 5-6 minutes. Remove the plantains from the skillet and lay them out on the brown paper bag. While they are still hot, lay the second brown paper bag on top of them. If you have a rolling pin, roll over the plantains to squish them flat. If you don't have a rolling pin (lord knows I don't) a spaghetti sauce jar or a thermos will work just as well. Once you have squished the plantains flat, put them back into the skillet and fry them up for another two minutes on each`side. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with garlic salt.

Here is the tasty part. To serve, lay a heap of tostones on small plates, cover with scoops of guacamole, and then sprinkle the top with the baked salmon. Sprinkle each plate with a little salt and serve.

This recipe will happily serve four people, and it costs about $10. If you choose to make the recipe without the salmon, the entire cost of the appetizer is about $4.