When I was growing up, I loved to eat these “guineítos” at my mom’s office parties. I loved the tanginess of the vinegar… You can eat these with toothpicks as an appetizer or as a side dish with your Arroz con Gandules and Pasteles.
GREEN BANANA ESCABECHE
24 green bananas, boiled and cut into slices ½ cup of green bell pepper, chopped Salt to taste Drizzle of vegetable or canola oil —————————————————— 2 cups of extra virgin olive oil ½ cup vinegar About 12 black peppercorns 4 bay leaves 3 cups of yellow onions, sliced thin 12 cloves of garlic, sliced The juice of 1 criollo lemon or lime Salt to taste
- In a large pot filled with salted water and a drizzle of vegetable oil, place green bananas to boil. They’ll be ready in about 20 minutes. I show you here a step-by step process to boil the green bananas.
- When they’re boiled, peel off the banana skin, allow them to cool off and slice them into 1/2” rounds slices. Set them aside.
- In a medium saucepan, add the olive oil, vinegar, onions, peppercorns, bay leaves and garlic. Cook over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes, until the onions have softened, but not browned. The onions should remain as white as possible. Let the mixture cool a bit.
- In a glass pyrex dish, while the banana slices are still somewhat warm, mix together the green banana slices and the olive oil/onion mixture and green peppers. Season with salt as needed. Let the green bananas marinate in the escabeche mixture for at least 2-3 hours. After the banana pieces have cooled off (at about the 1 hours mark), you can continue the marinating process in the refrigerator.
Serve directly from the fridge or at room temperature. You can drizzle the juice of one criollo lemon or lime before serving for added zip.
