Plantain Gnocchi
One thing I love the most about pasta is its versatility, a versatility that is not limited to Italian ingredients by any means. Today, I’ll be re-creating a dish that combines classic Italian gnocchi with a Puerto Rican twist, plantain gnocchi.
This is a dish that was featured on Season 18, Episode 4 of The Great Food Truck Race and was made by a food truck team who grew up in Puerto Rico, but now live in Miami, Florida, D’Pura Cepa.
The dish was made for a challenge where the food truck teams had to put their spin on classic Italian dishes for Food Truck Race host, Tyler Florence, and owner of Soto Sopa Italian restaurant, Antonia Lofaso.
The dish that D’Pura Cepa had to put its spin on was cavatelli pasta with sausage and rapini/broccoli rabe. To give it that Puerto Rican flare, D’Pura decided to make a quick pasta dough out of blended plantains, making a dough that looked more like gnocchi, and it turned out to be a big hit, so I thought I’d see if I can do it myself.
Plantains might look like large bananas, but they are not exactly the same.
Plantains have a higher starch content but not as much sugar as bananas; you can think of them more like a potato that you don’t have to cook to get tender.
Green plantains are often mashed into a classic mofongo or given a double-fried technique where they’re fried once then smashed and fried again, creating wonderful toastones.
Ripe yellow plantains also have their culinary uses as the riper the plantain, the sweeter they become, so they’re great to mash and turn into fritters, bread, cakes, or just about anything that you’d normally use bananas for.
In the episode, D’Pura Cepa head chef, Jose Carnot, mentioned using broccoli, cotija cheese, cilantro, and crushed pork cracklings or pork rinds. I love the idea of that crunchy, salty pork rinds on top of the soft gnocchi, but one part of the dish needed some thinking.
On the bottom of the plate, I noticed a red drizzle of something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but after doing some research, I realized that it had to be one thing, achiote oil.
For those unfamiliar with Puerto Rican food, achiote oil is an oil made with ground anatto seeds and neutral oil, making a nutty, sweet, peppery flavored oil with a red hue that’s great on savory and some sweet dishes.
I’m sure I could get achiote oil from Amazon, but I didn’t feel like putting in the effort, so I’ll swap it for a mix of paprika for sweetness and color and some vegetable oil. It might not be the same stuff you find in Puerto Rico, but I think it’ll be close enough.
Enough talk; let’s cook!
Plantain Gnocchi
Serves 4
For the Gnocchi Dough:
Kosher salt
4 large green plantains
2 egg yolks
2/3 cups of flour, plus more for dusting
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
For Serving:
1 small head of broccoli, cut into very small florets
Olive oil, for drizzling
1/4 of a small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of paprika
4 ounces of cotija cheese, crumbled
4 ounces of pork chicharrones or pork rinds, crushed
Cilantro leaves
Disclaimer: This is not the sort of dish that can be made the night before. Just like with bananas, plantains will turn brown within a few hours after being mashed and exposed to oxygen, so you do want to cook the gnocchi the same day that you make them.
Step 1: Prepare the gnocchi dough
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a simmer, you don’t want it to boil.
Cut the ends off of the plantains and peel off the skins. Place into a food processor, then blend until smooth.
Dump the blended plantains into a bowl, then add the egg yolks, flour, and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper, then gently mix until combined. You want enough flour so that the plantains can form a loose dough.
(To test that there’s enough flour in the dough, drop a small ball of the dough into the simmering water. If, after a minute or two, it floats to the top of the water without falling apart, then you’re good to go.
Dump the dough onto a floured surface, then use your hands to roll it into 1/2-inch thick logs. Use a pastry cutter or a knife to cut the logs into 1-inch pieces.
Step 2: Cook the gnocchi and broccoli
Carefully lower the gnocchi pieces into the simmering water and cook until it floats to the top. Add the broccoli, then cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the broccoli is bright green and slightly tender.
Drain the gnocchi and broccoli, then set aside.
Step 3: Finish the dish
Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a wide nonstick frying pan over medium heat, then add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions start to soften. Add the gnocchi and broccoli, then cook, tossing occasionally, until the gnocchi is lightly browned and warmed through.
Meanwhile, mix the vegetable oil and paprika in a small bowl then set aside.
Step 4: Plating
Dump the gnocchi mixture into a mound on the plate, then top with a drizzle of paprika oil, the cotija cheese, crushed pork rinds, and cilantro leaves.
This dish makes me think I’m traveling to the Caribbean islands when I haven’t even left my kitchen.
The gnocchi is tender, and has a nice sweet nuttiness from the plantains and the nutmeg, the broccoli is a nice touch, the cheese adds a nice saltiness, and the oil gives some color and moisture to make this a dish that’s well-worth making.
