Stuffing is my most favoritest (I know this isn’t a word, but I want to illustrate my favoritism) part of Thanksgiving. My mom is the stuffing queen. Homemade bread, homemade chicken stock and a butt load of butter. Doesn’t get much better (and yes I will be eating it this year, and next year and the year after that, and no I won’t feel guilty). It seems a lot of Paleo stuffing recipes don’t really get the ‘stuffing’ part of stuffing correct, in my opinion. Stuffing is carby, starchy, bready, and rich. Taking that away does not a stuffing make. So is this VLC/low-carb friendly? Hell no. But we don’t always see carbs as a bad thing, and if you’re active, neither should you. If you’re looking for a Paleo-friendly stuffing option, that’s fun and resembles the texture and flavor of traditional stuffing, then this should be right up your alley.

Ingredients

• 4 green plantains
• 2 celery stalks, minced
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
• ½ onion, minced
• 2 eggs
• 2 T dried sage or poultry seasoning
• ¼ c fat of choice, melted (we used butter)
• s & p
• 2 c frying fat (non-hydrogenated palm oil and/or coconut oil will work best)

Method

In a large pot, bring some salted water to a boil.

Get the plantains peeled by:

1. cutting off the tops and bottoms
2. score the peel lengthwise, through to the flesh
3. use your fingers to pry under the score marks and peel off the…peel

If this sounds confusing, watch this video. It’s dull and slow, but should help illustrate what I’m trying to say.

Plop the plantains in the water and boil under tender, about 10 minutes.

In a saute pan, melt a few tablespoons of fat over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot and onion. Saute until cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Add the saute mixture, plantains, eggs, sage, and fat of choice to a food processor and blend until smooth. The batter will be sticky.

In a 1 or 1 ½ quart sauce pot melt the 2 cups of frying fat. If you have a candy/oil thermometer, you’ll need to make sure the temperature is at least 300ºF, or the stuffing hushpuppies will not hold together in the oil. If you don’t have a thermometer, good luck. Okay not really, but you should seriously think about getting one. You’ll have to guess at the heat by looking for bubbles.

Using a scooper or spoon, portion out about ½ a tablespoon worth of hushpuppy batter and drop it into the oil. You can probably fit about 4-6 hush puppies at a time, so you’ll be doing this in batches. Fry until golden brown. Serve immediately.