Sweet plantains, crunchy rice, creamy slaw, and the best black bean spread. The Venezuelan Plantain is back Wednesday March 3rd at lunch!
In 2015, our friend Andrea grew a crop of local black beans in Hadley, MA. These beans taste better, cook faster, and benefit the soil by adding back nutrients that other crops take away. So we knew we had to build a sandwich around them. Enzo started thinking about the black beans his dad would make as part of a traditional Venezuelan breakfast growing up, and the Venezuelan Plantain was born.
We simmer the beans, then whip them into a black bean spread with garlic and cilantro. We make sure the plantains are super ripe (almost black) and then peel, slice, and fry them. We add a fresh slaw based on a Venezuelan beet salad. Then for some crunch (and a nod to rice and beans) we top with Jasmine rice that’s fried until toasty and fragrant.
When this sandwich launched, a customer liked it so much he baked Enzo a cake, and then…another one. I found this note from Stacia in the Clover archives.
Today a man walked into CloverHSQ looking for Enzo, and bearing cake. He’s the owner of the Danish Bakery in Watertown, and he’s Venezuelan. After hearing the story of its origin, he tried the Venezuelan Plantain sandwich the other day at BUR, thinking there was no way he’d find good Venezuelan food in a suburb of Boston. Long story short, he brought Enzo a cake. Lynn generously accepted it on his behalf, and the guy is going to bring another to KND tomorrow. How about that.
Starting tomorrow, you can find the Venezuelan Plantain at restaurants, or you can make your own at home, as part of our Starter Box, Winter Seasonal Box, or Build Your Own Box.
