I LOVE pastelón. It's kinda like Puerto Rican lasagna because you use lightly fried plantains to layer the casserole instead of noodles. The flavors in this dish are incredible - smoky, spicy, salty beef mixture layered between sweet plantains and topped off with some gooey cheese. This is going to be amazing tomorrow morning for breakfast with a runny fried egg on top and some Tapatio. Love this stuff!!!

Pastelón

Recipe slightly adapted from www.thenoshery.com

• 1 lbs ground beef
• 1 onion,minced
• 3 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 green pepper, minced
• 1/2 chopped cilantro
• 2 tsp adobo (I used the adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo.)
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 Tbs vinegar
• 1 envelope sazón (If you can't find it you can make your own. Just combine 1 teaspoon of the following: salt, garlic powder, ground cumin, ground annatto seed (achiote), ground coriander. 1 envelope is equal to         1 1/4 teaspoons sazon.)
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 green stuffed olives, halved
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 4 ripe plantains, peeled and sliced into strips
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tbs milk
• A couple handfuls white shredded cheese
• vegetable oil
• salt

Heat a large frying pan with vegetable oil, just enough to coat the bottom.  Fry plantains for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden and slitely crispy.  Drain on a plate with paper towel, set aside.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter square pan with 1 tbs of butter.

Combine, beef, onion, pepper, garlic, cilantro, adobo, oregano, vinegar and sazon.  Mix well.

Heat a large skillet at medium-high heat with 2 Tbs of olive oil, add meat mixture.

Cook beef until brown and of the juices bubble up, add bay leaves, olives, raisins and tomato sauce.  Mix and let simmer for 10 minutes, set aside. It is very important to taste your beef mixture at this point. I needed to pump up the seasoning by adding a bit more adobo, sazon and healthy few pinches of salt. 

To assemble pastelon: Take your prepared square pan, start with a layer of plantains, then beef, then a fistful of cheese, repeat. (I only used the cheese on top. I didn't think it need the cheese in between every layer.)  You want to finish with cheese and plantains.  Beat 3 eggs with 2 Tbs of milk, pour over the pastelón.  Let it sit for a minute allowing the egg to soak in.  Top off with just a bit more cheese.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Let cool for a couple minutes before cutting into it. We served ours with green side salad.