Sustainable Cooking Pt.1

New Orleans, with its thick humidity and relatively mild winters, is the perfect place to grow bananas and plantains, which need little care and can be grown pesticide- and fertilizer-free. In fact, these hardy plants grow so well here that you may need a chain saw and cement to keep them in check. (This is not a joke — our Executive Director, Andreas, had to pour concrete to keep our plantains from taking over Green Light’s little backyard!) Whatever effort is needed to control the growth of these tropical giants is well worth it. Each towering plantain stalk can produce nearly 50 plump green banana-like fruit that is delicious when prepared correctly. Plantains are a healthy, sustainable, and easy-to-prepare food that, given how easy it is to grow them in abundance, could be a staple in the diet of every New Orleanian.

As growers and eaters of plantains ourselves, we want to share with you this simple, delicious recipe to show you just how easy to prepare and yummy plantains can be!

Plantains a la Green Light:

Ingredients (feeds 2 people):

2 green plantains
1 clove of garlic
some leek or onion
a bit of butter
salt and pepper to taste

How to do it:

1. Peel 2 plantains by cutting the peel lengthwise.

2. Cut peeled plantains into cubes.

3. Boil cubes for 20 minutes.

4. Remove cubes from boiling water and squish them with a fork.

5. Heat butter in a frying pan.

6. Add garlic and leek (or onion) and simmer for a few minutes.

7. Add mashed plantains to the pan and fry until light golden brown.

8. Salt and pepper to taste

9. Serve hot!

In honor of these delicious fruits that are so very in season (and in abundance here at the Green Light office), we are offering free plantains to anyone who would like to try this recipe out for themselves. Come by the office any time from 9AM-5PM Monday-Saturday and get yours while they are available! They will be green for another two days. Check in for more recipes later.