Los tacos de platanos y frijoles negros

Plantains have always been one of my favorite natural treat. When I was a little kid, I would be satisfied with plantains as a dessert.
While we've been on the road a couple of times over the last few months, we've had to eat out a couple of times in restautants with meat-dominated menus. Among the side dishes at two of these restaurants, I found black beans and plantains. Perfect.
"You're not eating much," our friend Bud said to me after I ordered in a cute little Cuban restaurant a couple of miles from the state capitol in Tallahassee. "Isn't there anything else you can eat?"
Even if I wasn't a vegetarian, I probably would have been perfectly satisfied with the meal.
Still, when I got home, I decided to tinker with the simple ingredients to make something even better.
The results of my kitchen experiments were these Plantain and Black Bean Tacos. I probbably should come up with a better name, but they are pretty darned good, if I do say so myself.

Plantain and Black Bean Tacos

1/4 cup of oil
1 ripe plantain, cut at an angle, into thick slices
1/2 of an onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of black pepper, or more
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small hand full of cilantro leaves
3 store bought taco shells

• Put the oil into a medim fry pan and put in the garlic and the onions. Cook on medium heat until it is soft, but not brown.
• Take the garlic from the oil and add the plantains. Dust them with the pepper. Slightly brown them on each side.
• Pour out most of the oil (save it for another dish).
• Pour in the beans and the garlic and onions. Stir in the cilantro leaves.
• Stir until the beans are heated through.
• Layer the beans, the onions and the plantains in the taco shell.
• Add some salsa, if you'd like.

Vegan.