Pastellón recipe

A Puerto Rican lasagne where sheets of sweet black-ripe plantain replace the pasta around a stewed picadillo.

1 hour and 55 minutesmedium10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 5 ripe plantains
• 500 g ground beef
• 4 tbsp sofrito
• 200 g tomato sauce
• 60 g green olives
• 3 eggs
• 250 g shredded cheese
• 100 ml olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

How to make Pastellón

1. Use 5 plantains whose skin is black, not yellow; only fully ripe ones give the sweetness the dish is built on.
2. Peel them and slice lengthwise into 5 mm strips, then fry in 100 ml of olive oil for 2 minutes a side until soft and caramelised, never crisp, and drain.
3. Brown 500 g of ground beef in the same pan, then stir in 4 tablespoons of sofrito and cook 5 minutes.
4. Add 60 g of tomato sauce and 60 g of chopped green olives and simmer 15 minutes until it is a stew with sauce, not dry mince.
5. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper and take the pan off the heat.
6. Line a baking dish with plantain strips, spread half the picadillo, scatter cheese, then repeat and finish with a layer of plantain.
7. Beat 3 eggs and pour them over the top layer; this is what holds the pastelon together when you cut it.
8. Cover with 250 g of shredded cheese and bake 45 minutes at 180 C until set and golden.
9. Rest 15 minutes before slicing, otherwise the layers slide apart.

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