If you’ve been my friend around here, you know my LOVE for plantain and bacon is preeetty clear, am I right?
Today, you and I have a date in our tiny food world where we’ll learn how to do one of the yummiest Venezuelan treats: stuffed mini patacones.
These cute little cups of scrumptiousness, can be filled in so many ways you can imagine: cheese, pork, ground beef, carne mechada, shrimp, bacon, pico de gallo, and many many more options.
They are one of my little ones’ favourite treat and they’re so easy to prepare at home, as a perfect appetizer to share with your friends and family.
In partnership with our F.Menard friends (AKA the BEST bacon EVER), we created this very special recipe that brings me back to my latin roots, pairing it with a mix of rich flavours you’ll adore!
the secrets of a perfect stuffed mini patacones
Plantain: No, they’re not a banana, plantains are much bigger with a thicker skin, sweeter, and it’s one of my kitchen staples that I use in so many different forms! You can prepare these mini patacones with ripe yellow plantains (for a much sweeter taste) or green plantains. In Venezuela, we have them both ways!
Fillings: In our country, especially the city where I’m from, we grow the sweetest and biggest plantains of Latin America (proudly) and we are PROs when we talk about a serious patacon. We fill them with SO many creative options, and in this recipe, we stuffed them with cheese, crispy shrimp, and pork & beef medley, all topped with my favourite F. Menard Bacon Rounds, an ideal presentation of bacon if you’re cooking appetizers!
Juuuuust in case you were wondering, this is how we peel a plantain, high-five!
The recipe main stars: yellow plantains, F. Menard bacon rounds, pork & beef medley, cheese.
Busted! You have to fry the plantains if you want to taste a real, Venezuelan mini patacon, ok?
We are big fans of F. Menard for a few years now (if you follow on Instagram, you know this already!) and this presentation is so practical! If you are making burgers, appetizers, sandwiches, the bacon rounds are your best bet (and proudly all made in Quebec, yay!)
For this recipe, I used grilled halloumi, a perfect firm, salty cheese to pair it with plantains.
Mini Stuffed Patacones
Ingredients
- 1 package F. Menard Bacon Rounds
- 2 yellow plantains
- 2 cups olive oil
- 1 cup cooked ground beef & pork medley
- 1 cup cooked crispy shrimp
- 1 tbs maple
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet
- Peel the plantains and cut them in pieces. For one plantain, you can get approx 6 pieces.
- Fry the plantains in the olive oil for about 5 minutes and remove them
- Cook your F. Menard bacon rounds in the oven, and as soon as they're ready, pour the tbsp of maple on top
- Using a lemon juice presser, cover it with a plastic compostable bag and pour on top your fried plantain piece. Press it until it is smash and you form a little plantain cup
- Fry again your pressed banana cups in the hot oil until they're crispy and golden
- Remove the oil excess and fill your mini patacones with your favourite options: cheese, pork & beef or shrimp
- Top your mini patacones with your warm bacon rounds and enjoy!
