Warm Plantain and Pear Breakfast Mash with Cinnamon
Very ripe plantains simmered soft and mashed with olive oil and honey, folded through cinnamon-cooked pears and topped with cold blueberries for a warm, sweet breakfast bowl.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Some mornings a person wants something sweet and warm, and there is no talking them out of it. This is the bowl I make on those mornings, and on the ones where a small child is involved, because it tastes like dessert and is nothing but fruit, starch, and good olive oil. The kitchen smells like cinnamon and cooking pear within about eight minutes, which does more for a slow morning than the food itself does. Start to finish it runs about half an hour, and unlike most sweet breakfasts it comes out of one small pot and one skillet, both of which rinse clean.
The ripeness of the plantains is the whole recipe. You want skins that are black or nearly black and fruit that gives under your thumb, because a yellow plantain is still a starchy vegetable and will taste like one. Buy them a week ahead and let them sit on the counter. They simmer in salted water rather than frying, which keeps them soft and clean-tasting, and then you mash them by hand with a fork or a masher. This is the step people get wrong. A food processor turns plantain into glue in about four seconds, and there is no coming back from it.
What holds the bowl together is olive oil beaten into the hot mash along with a few spoonfuls of the cooking water, which sounds odd in a sweet dish and tastes right the moment you try it. The pears go in half folded through and half spooned on top, so there is soft fruit inside and something to find. Blueberries go on cold and unheated on purpose, since they burst against the warm mash. Leftovers set firm in the refrigerator and reheat with a splash of water, or you can eat the cold mash straight from the container with a spoon, which I have done more than once.
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe plantains, skins mostly black (about 1 1/3 lb peeled)
- 2 ripe pears (about 12 oz), cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 1 cup blueberries
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
- 2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Peel and cut the plantains: Trim both ends, run a knife down the length of the skin through to the flesh, and peel the sections back with your thumb. Very ripe skins come away in strips. Cut the flesh into 1-inch rounds and drop them into a saucepan.
- Simmer them soft: Cover the plantains with cold water by an inch, add the salt, and bring to a boil. Lower to a steady simmer and cook 15 to 18 minutes, until a fork slides through a piece with no resistance. Scoop out and reserve 1 cup of the cooking water before you drain them, because that starchy water is what loosens the mash later without watering down its flavor.
- Cook the pears: While the plantains simmer, warm 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet over medium. Add the diced pear, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, and the ginger, and cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the edges of the pear are translucent and the pan smells sweet, which is the point where the fruit has softened but still holds its shape. Take it off the heat and add the lemon juice.
- Mash by hand: Return the drained plantains to the warm pot and mash with a potato masher or a sturdy fork. Work in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the honey, and about 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking water, a splash at a time, until the mash is thick and smooth but still loose enough to fall off a spoon.
- Fold and top: Fold half the cooked pear through the mash. Divide among four bowls, spoon the rest of the pear over the top with any syrup from the pan, and scatter the blueberries over while the mash is still hot so they warm without cooking. Dust with the remaining cinnamon.
Variations
- Berry swap: Use blackberries or halved strawberries in place of the blueberries, adding them cold at the very end the same way.
- Banana and plantain: Mash one ripe banana into the hot plantain for a softer, sweeter bowl that needs no honey at all.
- Clove and orange: Add a pinch of ground cloves with the cinnamon and finish with orange juice rather than lemon for a darker, more wintry version.
- Roasted instead of simmered: Roast the unpeeled plantains at 400°F (200°C) for 25 minutes, then scoop the flesh out and mash it for a deeper, more caramelized flavor.
- Meat on the side: Brown a half pound of ground pork with sage while the plantains simmer and serve it alongside for a bigger breakfast.
Storage & Leftovers
The mash keeps in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and firms up considerably as it chills, closer to a soft dough than a porridge. Store the blueberries separately and add them at serving, since they weep into the mash overnight and turn the whole thing purple and wet.
Reheat in a small saucepan over low with 2 or 3 tablespoons of water, stirring until it loosens and steams, about 4 minutes. The microwave works if you cover the bowl and stir halfway, though it heats the edges first and leaves a cold center, so give it a stir and another 20 seconds.
It freezes for up to 2 months in single portions. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and expect it to look grainy at first, which stirring and gentle heat fix. Cook the pears fresh if you can, since they lose their shape in the freezer and go slack rather than tender.
Notes & Tips
- Buy the plantains early: Black skins take about a week from the green ones most stores stock. Ripeness is the difference between sweet fruit and boiled starch.
- Never use a food processor: Plantain goes gummy and stretchy under a blade in seconds. A fork or a hand masher keeps the texture soft and short.
- Save the cooking water: That starchy water is what loosens the mash without watering down the flavor. Reserve a cup before you drain and you will always have enough.
- Warm the bowls: This mash cools fast because it is dense. A hot rinse of the bowls before you serve buys you five more minutes of warm breakfast.
- Add lemon off the heat: Stirred into the hot pan, the lemon goes dull. Off the burner it stays bright and keeps the pears from tasting like syrup.
- Salt the plantain water: A quarter teaspoon in the pot seasons the fruit from the inside and is why the sweetness reads as flavor rather than sugar.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Plantain, pear, and blueberries make a full sweet bowl between them. The plantain brings the starch and the body, the pear brings soft cooked fruit, and the berries on top bring the sharp fresh note that keeps it from being one long sweet note.
- Plantains are cooked like a vegetable and eaten like a fruit, and a ripe one is mostly slow starch. That, along with the potassium and vitamin C they carry, is why a bowl of this eats so much more steadily than something sweet usually does in the morning.
- Pears cooked briefly with the skin on hold on to their fiber, and their flesh goes translucent and honeyed at the edges while the middle stays tender. Much of that fiber is the soft, soluble kind that is gentle on a sensitive gut.
- Blueberries go on cold and whole so they burst rather than bleed, and the deep color in the skins comes from anthocyanins, the pigments that have been studied for their antioxidant activity.
- Olive oil beaten into the hot mash carries the cinnamon and gives the bowl its silky finish, and the fat in it is what turns a plate of fruit into a breakfast that stays with you into the middle of the morning.
- As you eat, notice the cold blueberries breaking against the warm mash and the way the cinnamon lingers after the spoon is down, and let yourself finish sitting rather than moving on to the next thing.
Frequently Asked Questions
My plantains are still yellow. Can I use them?
You can cook them, but the bowl will taste starchy rather than sweet and you will want more honey to compensate. Yellow plantains also stay firmer no matter how long they simmer. Give them 3 to 5 days on the counter and they will be right.
Can I use apple instead of pear?
Yes. Apple holds its shape more than pear does, so cut it smaller, about 1/3-inch dice, and give it 3 or 4 extra minutes in the pan. A firm apple stays a little toothy in the finished bowl, which some people prefer to soft pear.
Does olive oil really belong in a sweet breakfast?
It does, and it is worth trying before you swap it out. Fruity olive oil against warm cinnamon is a long tradition in southern Italian baking. Use an oil you like the taste of on its own, since there is nothing here to hide behind.
Is this enough for a morning on its own?
For some people, yes. It is fruit and starch with a good amount of olive oil in it, so if your mornings are long or physical, put a couple of sausage patties or a piece of leftover roast meat beside it and the bowl becomes a full plate.