Puerto Rican Pastelón Recipe

Being Puerto Rican, there are many dishes that are simply traditional staples and I find myself craving them all the time. One of them is what we call a pastelón.  A pastelón is like a type of lasagna, where each layer could be of different ingredients. You could eat a potato one or my all time favorite a pastelón de amarillos (sweet plantains). The sweet plantain pastelón is the one I am going to teach you to make today. 

Can you guess what the first step is? You got it! You have to make sure you have all the ingredients you need. The picture is always optional but fun!

You will need:

• 1 pound of ground beef - I like to use 90/10 beef. 
• 2 sweet plantains - you can definitely use more depending on how much you love them and their size. 
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbs of garlic butter - If you do not have garlic butter you can use 2 tbs of regular butter and one clove of garlic. I've done the recipe both ways and the end result is the same.  
• Seasonings - You can use whatever you want. What I used was some adobo, sofrito, and some parseley. But you can definitely season the meat with whatever flavors you like. 
• Shredded Cheese - You can use whatever kind you want I used a Puerto Rican Cheese Blend because it was the one I had handy. 
• A round oven safe pie mold - to build your pastelón in. 

After gathering all of your ingredients, the next step would be to preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Next, you want to start cooking your meat. Season it and cook it until it's browned, remove from the heat and set it aside so it is ready for when you start assembling your final dish.

While your meat browns, cut your sweet plantains lengthwise to try and keep your pieces as even as posible.

Heat up some oil and fry your plantains until they are golden browns. Set them on top of a paper towel to drain and be ready for assembly as well.

Now it is time to make two egg omelettes to be your top and bottom layers of your pastelón. Each one will contain two eggs and are seasoned with a pinch of adobo.

Now that all of your components are prepared, you are ready to assemble your pastelón!

The first layer will be one of your egg omelettes, followed by a layer of sweet plantains. Also, I like to add just a little bit of cheese between adding the meat so it acts like a glue. 

After adding all of your meat, add some more cheese. On top of the cheese, add the remainer of your sweet plantains.

Now you're ready for your last egg omelette layer and the rest of your cheese.

Place your assembled pastelón in the oven. Finish cooking for 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and it is browned and crispy in the edges.

Let it rest for a few minutes before you cut into it and enjoy it with some white rice with ot without beans and a garden salad! You will not regret trying this amazing and incredibly easy dish.

Share with me your pastelón creations on Instagram by using the hashtag #LoveNashiCooks and tagging me @love_nashi. I would love to see how yours turn out. I'll write to you all soon.

Love, Nashi