recipe search - white fish with bananas?

[Chufi]

A friend of mine was in Portugal recently and had a dish she still raves about - white fish, baked in the oven with bananas.

I have to say it sounded a bit weird to me but I trust her taste. Googling isn't much help - lots of recipes for fish baked in banana leaves, but with fresh bananas, not so much.

Anyone have an idea if this is a traditional Portuguese recipe - or maybe this was just a very creative chef?

[Meanderer]

We saw it on menus at several restaurants in Madeira when we visited in the late '90s. My wife ordered it once and I seem to recall that she liked it but, a decade and a half later, I have no recollection of how it might have been prepared.

[SylviaLovegren]

Were the bananas sweet or more like plantains?

Trying to edit again:

I googled and found this recipe in "taste of portugal" page: http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/grouper-or-sole-delicia-with-bananas/

It doesn't specify what kind of bananas, so I'd assume standard American supermarket sweet bananas.

Is this at all like what your friend remembers?

Edited January 31, 2013 by SylviaLovegren (log)

[seabream]

I found a recipe with swordfish and banana here: http://www.saborintenso.com/f17/filetes-peixe-espada-banana-batata-salteada-333/ It's not cooked in the oven, so it may be a bit different from the dish your friend had.

Look at the video, and if it seems like something you would like to try, I'd be happy to translate the recipe.

This site, by the way, is my absolute #1 resource for Portuguese recipes.

I grew up in the north of Portugal and don't remember ever having a dish with fish and banana. It may be traditional from Madeira, as Meanderer suggests above.

In fact, now that I think about it, the best bananas we get in Portugal are from Madeira, so it's very likely that this dish is from Madeira.

The bananas we get year-round in Portugal are just like the bananas we get in the US. But in the right season, we get these small bananas from Madeira that are some of the tastiest bananas I've had. They remind me of the small sweet bananas found in South East Asia.

Edited January 31, 2013 by seabream (log)