Pastelón de Plátano Maduro (Sweet Plantain Lasagna)

Pastelón de Plátano Maduro (Sweet Plantain Lasagna) combines the delicate sweetness of sweet plantains, flavorful beef filling and a medley of melted cheese. Once you have a taste of this, you’ll never forget it, it’s definitely a crowd pleaser!

Pastelón de Plátano Maduro (Sweet Plantain Lasagna)

Ingredients

For the beef filling

• olive oil

• Sofrito

• 3 cloves garlic (mashed in a pestle and mortar)

• 2 lbs of ground beef 85/15

• 1 1/2 packets of Sazon seasoning (achiote)

• Adobo Seasoning

• dried dominican oregano (or regular dried oregano)

• cumin

• 2-3 sprigs of thyme chopped

• tomato sauce

• tomato paste

• sweet onion sliced

• red bell pepper sliced

• chopped cilantro (or parsley)

• water

For the Pastelon:

• Very Ripe Sweet Plantains (almost black)- I usually use around 8 of them

• S&P

• Canola

• Grated Cheese-I used a combo of mozzarella, Gouda and Provolone.

Instructions

For the Carne Molida:

1. Season the ground beef with S&P. Nothing else for now.

2. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan on medium heat, add the sofrito and sautee for about a min or until it’s fragrant, don’t let it burn.

3. Add the ground beef and cook until it’s brown on all sides making sure to break up all of the chunks.

4. Season the ground beef (in the pan)with all the spices including the tomato sauce, tomato paste and 1/4 cup of water. Continue breaking up the big chunks of meat. Put the heat on low and let it simmer for about 15 min or until most the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.*

5. Once it’s done, sauté the onions and peppers until the onions are translucent. Set aside.

6. Peel the Plantains then slice each lengthwise. You’re not going to get perfect pieces and that’s ok, I think from each plantain, I got 3 good long pieces lol.

7. Heat a frying pan on medium and add about 1 inch of Canola oil, when the oil gets hot, fry each plantain until golden brown. Drain them on top paper towels.

8. After you have fried all the plantains, grease a baking dish and preheat the oven to 375.

9. For this particular pastelon, here’s how I layered it.
   1. Platains
   2. Gouda slices
   3. Ground Beef
   4. Onions and pepper
   5. Plantains
   6. Gouda slices
   7. Ground beef
   8. Onions and Peppers
   9. Provolone cheese
   10. Plantains
   11. Ground Beef
   12. Onions and Peppers
   13. Mozarella cheese
   14. Plantains
   15. Mozarella and gouda cheese

10. On the last layer of cheese, season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 min or until the cheese is bubbly and melted. Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.

11. ENJOY!

    
    Notes:
    *If your ground beef mixture is too watery after you have finished cooking it, strain it through a colander.