Pastelon - Puerto Rican Sweet Plantain Lasagna
Pastelon is the Puerto Rican version of lasagna, but instead of pasta, we use thinly sliced sweet plantains, layered with savory meat cooked in sofrito and tomato sauce. Then topped with bubbly cheese. It's the perfect sweet and savory dish!
Ingredients
- 4 ripe sweet plantains
- 1 pound of ground beef (oil drained)
- 2 cups of mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 cup of homemade sofrito
- 1 packet of sazon with achiote
- 1 tablespoon of adobo all purpose seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
- 5 stuffed-spanish olives (optional)
- 1 cup of tomato sauce
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon of whole milk
Instructions
Cook the Sweet Plantains
- Prepare your sweet plantains by scoring the skins, peeling them off and cutting the plantain in half.
- Then cut thin slices from each halve. These slices will be your "lasagna sheets".
- Based on preference, shallow fry the plantains until golden caramel color (7 minutes each side) or you may bake them.
- Rest the plantains on a paper-towel lined plate to absorb the excess oil.
Prepare the Picadillo
- Add sofrito to a medium-high heat pan with some olive oil.
- Cook sofrito until aromatic and then add ground beef.
- Add seasoning, stuffed olives (optional) and tomato sauce.
- Reduce heat and simmer until all extra liquid evaporates.
- Drain any excess oil.
Assembly the Pastelon
- When all components are complete, begin to layer them into a lightly greased pan.
- Begin with the plantain layer. Lay plantain slices side-by-side until bottom of dish is mostly covered.
- Add and smooth picadillo over plantain layer.
- Sprinkle half of cheese amount over ground beef and beat eggs with milk. Pour half the egg mixture over the pastelon.
- Repeat the layers and pour the remaining egg mixture on top.
- Bake for 25 minutes and enjoy!