Plantain Emergency - Disaster averted

I'm trying a recipe from one of Bayless' cookbooks for plantain empanadas.

He says to use ripe (yellow), but not too ripe (black) plantain, which is what I did.

Slit, roast in 350 oven for 40 minutes until soft. Did that.
Let them cool. OK.
Scoop them out -- uh, oh. They're now mostly hard and dry. Is this normal? When I attempt to puree them in the food processor (next step), I get something closer to a mealy consistency, not dough at all. I'm supposed to use flour to help dry it up a bit, but this won't stick together at all.

What do I do?
* Start over with new plantain
* Cook this meal a bit, hoping to soften it more (microwave covered?)
* Add liquid
* Punt: buy some fresh masa instead

This is one of many dishes I need prepared by tomorrow, so I've got a few hours to figure this one out, but not too much time.

Thanks in advance

Well, a little experimentation, and all is well:
A dough of 2 cups plantain 'meal', 1 cup flour, 3/4 tsp salt, add enough water to just barely form a ball in the food processor. Flattened in a tortilla press, filled with goat cheese and chipotle paste, and fried, they came out nut brown and crisp, a little sweetness, spice, salt and creamy oozy cheese. Served with "essential tomatillo-chipotle" salsa (I was a little shy on dried chipotles, so used some of the test-tubed spherical chiles some kind soul was distributing at the Korean LTH anniversary feast -- I forget the donor and the variety).

These will be a hit.

JoelF wrote:(I was a little shy on dried chipotles, so used some of the test-tubed spherical chiles some kind soul was distributing at the Korean LTH anniversary feast -- I forget the donor and the variety).

I will venture to guess this is Rene G.

This is your party with the Lost theme? I hope once you are past it you will advise the menu with the characters. I don't know the show though I am curious how your menu finally finished out.

Regards,

We never really hit off with the Lost theme, it was the theme without a theme this year.

Menu:
Cheeses: Shropshire blue, a semi-soft pecorino, a goat cheese ball from Whole Paycheck, smoked gouda and a beautiful brown-streaked irish porter cheddar.

Cold appetizers:
"Bang-Bang" chicken in phyllo tartlets (DK Appetizers)
Smoked salmon in phyllo tartlets (with lime segments and homemade creme fraiche) (DK Appetizers)
Prosciutto and Asian Pear "maki" (Blue Ginger)
Curry deviled eggs (adorned with chicken or asparagus)
Couscous salad with carrot, parsnip, radicchio and mint vinaigrette (Foods of Campanile)

Hot Items:
Potato and smoked gouda pierogis (various sources, made simpler with wonton wrappers)
Scallion pancakes with roast pork (liberally interpreted internet recipe)
Kosher mini hot dogs in pillsbury croissant
Mushroom caps stuffed with cheese and chorizo (boy scout recipe)
Christmas kugel (had cranberries and pecans instead of pineapple)
Plantain turnovers with queso fresco (one of the Bayless cookbooks)

A fine time was had by all.

Christmas kugel? I would love to see how that came out. (How it even came about!) Talk about fusion cooking...

The Christmas Kugel was one of my few all-original inspirations (prevoiuis years have included creme de crecy (gingered carrot) potstickers, and wasabi deviled eggs).

I wanted our usual bland-colored kugel to come out more festive-looking, so cranberries seemed a natural.

The old family recipe goes like this (parens are modifications or clarifications):

Cook 1 lb wide egg noodles, drain
Melt 2 sticks butter (1 works just fine).
Blend a small cream cheese (3 oz), a large cottage cheese (1 lb), and 3tbs sour cream.
Add 3 eggs, sugar to taste (about 1/4 cup), half the melted butter, cinnamon (nope, don't use it) and 1 can crushed pineapple (about 3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries).
Add the noodles and mix well.
Spread the rest of the butter in a large baking dish, and pour in the noodle mixture.
(top with 1/2 cup chopped pecans).
Bake 1 hour at 350.

We'd considered trying to make this in muffin tins for single serving, but ran out of time to experiment with the cooking time. It got eaten. The cranberries are more tart than pineapple, even sweetened, but I was happy to see the red color didn't turn all the dairy products pink (which is why I stayed away from fresh or freshly cooked berries).

Joel,

The dried cranberries are a good inspiration. (One of) Our family's recipes calls for golden raisins, so the dried fruit is "in the ballpark" so to speak. Your Christmas Kugle sounds terrific.

JoelF wrote:He says to use ripe (yellow), but not too ripe (black) plantain, which is what I did.

Slit, roast in 350 oven for 40 minutes until soft. Did that.
Let them cool. OK.
Scoop them out -- uh, oh. They're now mostly hard and dry. Is this normal?

Joel, this is late but may help for future puposes. When we cook plaintains (though maybe a ones that are a bit riper than the ones you are using and for different purposes), we just score the peel and put them on a plate along with a couple of tablespoons of water, cover with a plastic bowl (leaving and opening) and microwave (fresh vegetables function - by weight approx.). This cooks the plantains in their jackets and the water and plastic dome keeps it from getting too dry. Take out, rest in dome till a bit cool. You can test with a knive point to see if has cooked through.