Thursday, June 25, 2009

the "el vez"


we were first introduced to el vez, the mexican elvis while browsing the discount racks at a local used bookstore, unaware that we were about to stumble upon the greatest book ever! what was this glorious discovery?, you ask. I am Elvis! as the amazon page points out, a guide to 60+ Elvis impersonators, with contact information!

and at a price of only 50 cents! how could we resist? anyway, this lead to us discovering the fantastic el vez. rita and the parents have now seen him perform 3 times, and i have seen him once. it is quite a show, let me tell you. he does elvis songs as well as his own originals, all with mexican touches. as a side note, rita now has an internship with a publishing company and will get to sit in on their interview with El Vez this very weekend. we are excited.

so for some reason rita and i were talking about spicy peanut butter or fried plantains or something, and all of the sudden, it just came to me. "i just had a great idea!" i exclaimed, "the El Vez sandwich!"
after some discussion, we decided on the proper formula for the translation of Elvis' famous peanut butter and banana sandwich into an El Vez sandwich. white bread=tortillas, peanut butter=spicy peanut butter, and banana=fried plantains.
without further ado, the recipe, followed by some notes.
the El Vez
makes 1
spicy pb (idea from peanut butter boy)
*1/4 cup peanut butter (i used homemade, if you use store bought get a smooth kind with no added sugar)
*1/2 teaspoon chili powder
*1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
fried plantains
*about 1/2 a plantain, thinly sliced
*2 Tablespoons peanut oil
other stuff
*2 small flour tortillas
1. mix all the spicy pb ingredients in a small bowl. stir to combine.
2. heat up oil in frying pan. oil should coat bottom of pan in a thin layer. add plantains. fry until dark brown, about 3-5 minutes each side.
3. remove plantains from heat, place on paper towel and pat off excess oil.
4. spread pb on one tortilla. top with plaintains. add second tortilla.
4. place sandwich on pan used for frying plantains. fry each side about 2 minutes.
5. use paper towel to pat off excess oil. slice into fourths and enjoy!
notes: this turned out good, but the recipe will still be developed further. the spice of the pb was mostly in the aftertaste. perhaps if i let the pb sit for longer after i mixed it, as peanut butter boy suggests, the flavors would have combined more.
the plantain flavor could come through more. next time, i would slice the plantains thicker.
also, this was pretty rich. i ate 3 of the 4 slices for lunch, but i think i would prefer just one slice as a snack or appetizer.
edit!
we've entered this recipe in peanut butter boy's great peanut butter exhibition #7.

9 comments:

Jordana @ Menu Maniac said...

Sounds pretty good!

Creative Classroom Core said...

Cool! I bet I would love this. Too funny!

Peanut Butter Swirl said...

this sounds amazing!! so creative :)

Rachel said...

So cute! I've decided to try something new with life and something new with food at least once a week so when I went grocery shopping last time I bought a plantain (had them before - never cooked them) but I haven't had many ideas about what to do with it. Maybe I'll give this a try :)

Michele said...

Peanut butter and plantains--genius!

Jackie said...

I absolutely love your idea. It's so creative. It's like an upscale peanut butter sandwich. Right on!

Jackie @ PhamFatale.com

Kerstin said...

What a great idea - very creative! I love plantains!

katie said...

spicy peanut butter... very mexican.

I love sticking pb in tortillas. For some crunchy, I might even throw in some rice crispies or something. although not mexican at all.

Anonymous said...

Great idea and how unique to use plantains. Love it.