My dog ate my post.

Actually, my dog almost ate the report I’ve been working on for over a week now, but her eating my post somehow seems funnier. I’ve come to believe she doesn’t appreciate my ‘working’ mode. She has attacked the laptop. Chewed printed copies. Body-slammed against me while I was sitting at the desktop. She’s a cutie, but she’s a handful!

In any case, I considered blaming her and not writing a post. Mamma’s tired. Mamma’s sleepy. Mamma’s got a buzz in honor of ‘Week Off’ week.

Aside: WHO is Ben Sargeant?!! I’m typing this and watching a new Cooking Channel show called Hook, Line, Dinner… and, Oh. eMM. Gee. Dude’s hot!

I digress. I’m taking a week off my ‘real’ job, using up my vacation time. But there will be no resting here. I’ll be working on my ‘dream’ job. Yep. Zee blog. Someone called me a blogging machine recently. Its not true, but I won’t reveal the real story, I look better in that one.

Anyway. Food. Holidays. Turkey Day. Side Dishes. That’s what we got here. I’m bringing some Latin-Caribbean sabor to your holidays with this one. This is a good replacement for the standard mashed potatoes, just giving ya some options, you see?

The Hubbz was really surprised by these. He expected them to be heavier somehow. The trick with these is to get the bananas just before you use them, they go ripe pretty quick, so timing is everything. You could pick them up the day before Thanksgiving, peel and boil them, then reheat and mash the day of. There is no need for a recipe here. Pretty easy stuff.

Green Banana Mash

Green bananas
Butter
Bacon, cooked & crumbled (reserve some of the fat)
Milk
Salt & black pepper

Similar to green plantains, if you soak these in water for a few minutes, peeling them will be a breeze. So trim the ends, score it along the sides a few times and let them soak in cool water for 15 minutes or so. Mind the sap, though. It will stain your hands and clothes.

Once you peel the bananas, cut them into rounds, drop them into a pot filled with water, add salt and bring it to a boil. It will take about 12 minutes to cook them to fork-tender.

Drain the bananas, in the same pot, add milk and, if you’re not opposed to it, use some of that bacon fat, it adds amazing flavor–1 or 2 tablespoons will do. I usually do 1/2 butter 1/2 bacon fat.  Return the bananas to the pot and mash away. Adjust the seasoning with salt & pepper. Mix in 2/3 of the crumbled bacon and top with some as you serve it.

That’s it folks!

For extra shots, check out the photostream.

Cookingly yours,
Anamaris