Pastelón (Puerto Rican plantain lasagna)
Layers of sweet caramelized plantains, savory sofrito-spiced beef and melted cheese, Puerto Rico’s irresistible salty-sweet casserole.
- 75 min total
- 50 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 6
- About $2.42 a serving
- 510 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 4 plantains
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
- 1½ cups shredded mozzarella, divided
- 2 large eggs
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 510 calories, 26 g protein, 45 g carbs and 26 g fat, and costs about $2.42 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No shredded mozzarella? Provolone slices work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 375°F and grease a 9x9-inch baking dish with a little of the oil.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Cut the ends off the plantains, slit the along its ridges, and pry it off. Slice each plantain lengthwise into 4 long planks.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Dolly’s tip: Use plantains that are mostly black. Ripe ones are sweet, soft and peel easily.Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large over medium. Fry the planks in batches 2 to 3 minutes per side, until and , and on paper towels.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Caramelize. Caramelizing means cooking slowly until the natural sugars turn deep golden brown. It turns sharp onions soft, jammy and sweet, and it often takes 30 minutes or more.
How you’ll know: They’re soft, sticky and amber brown, and they taste sweet rather than sharp.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Ripe plantains are full of sugar and brown fast. Medium heat keeps them from scorching.Add the rest of the oil to the pan and cook the onion and pepper 5 minutes, until soft.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Turn the heat to medium-high, add the beef, and cook 7 to 8 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper for 1 minute, then the tomato sauce. 5 minutes on low, and stir in the cilantro.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 5 min
Layer a third of the plantains in the dish, then half the beef and ½ cup cheese. Repeat, and finish with the last of the plantains.
Beat the eggs, pour them evenly over the top so they seep into the layers, and scatter the remaining cheese.
Dolly’s tip: The egg sets as it bakes and holds the layers together like lasagna.25 to 30 minutes, until set in the middle and on top.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 27 min 30 sec
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Let it 10 minutes, then cut into squares.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 10 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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