The Tostone... a Little Slice of Heaven Found in a Plantain...

So I've recently rediscovered my love of the tostone, introduced to me in my childhood by Annie and Sandy (who, along with their dad Pop, are directly responsible for my addiction to rice & beans, potatoes, and achote of all stripes). Seized with the compulsion last week to make a tostone after watching - yes, you guessed it, Alton, I am now a tostone-cranking madwoman.

Alton pretty much does the same as I've learned as a kid, but with a new twist in letting the tostones dry out on a cookie rack rather than letting them sit in their own oil to dry. I am always on the lookout to try new things but not at the expense of my waistline, so I tried it and it works. So let me share Alton's/my tostones recipe (I've melded the two into one) with you. I can't find Alton's recipe on the Food Network page - what did they do with him??

Anyway - here it is.

I usually use two plantains; one usually yields anywhere from 10-12 tostones depending on how thickly you slice them. I usually make them about an inch thick because you have to squash them.

Buy the green plantains - not unripened bananas, there is a difference. Plantains are a hard, starchy banana used in cooking and will be marked as "plantains" in the grocery store. You can buy yellow ones, too - they get sweeter as they ripen. Slice off the ends, and remove the outer skin. They do not peel like a regular banana - I slice them (not penetrating the meat of the fruit, so try to keep an eye on this) down one side, stick my thumb into the incision, and slide it down the cut. From there, you should be able to peel it off the fruit. George Duran recommends soaking the greener ones in cold water at first to help this process, so give that a shot if you're having a hard time.

Slice into pieces about an inch thick. Fry them for about 2 minutes on each side in oil (I use canola in a frying pan and use tongs to flip them) and remove, letting them dry on a baking rack. I put the baking rack on top of a cookie sheet lined with either newspaper or a paper shopping bag to soak up the oil.

After they've dried out for about 2-3 minutes, fill a bowl with room-temperature salted water. Give the plantains a little bath, not too long or they'll fall apart on you. Put them back on the rack to dry for another couple of minutes. Then take a flat spatula and press gently (GENTLY!) on each individual tostone (use a cutting board for this, the baking rack is too unstable) so it flattens out a bit.

When you finish smushing your tostones, put them back in the oil for another 2 minutes on each side, until they're golden brown. Let them dry out one more time on the rack, salt to taste, and enjoy!

While watching Ham on the Street last night, turns out George Duran has his own version of tostones, which also look darn tasty. Wander over here to check it out.