Island Bites: Piñon or Pastelón (Puerto Rican Sweet Plantain Lasagna)

Island Bites is a Puerto Rican cook with decades of experience in the kitchen. She's an expert in Latin American cuisine.

What is piñón?

Piñon (also known as pastelón) is a Puerto Rican. It is similar to a lasagna, but instead of using pasta, it is made with layers of fried sweet plantains and picadillo (seasoned ground meat).

Tips

• To learn how to make sofrito visit: Island Bites Sofrito

Instructions

1. Brown ham and sofrito in a couple tablespoons of oil for a couple minutes. Add onions, peppers, garlic, tomato sauce, herbs and spices. Saute at medium temperature for 2 or 3 minutes. Add olives, salt and peper to taste. Let it simmer for 30 minutes. Set aside.
2. Heat oil, enough to cover the bottom of a pan. Fry sweet plantain strips at medium temperature, until golden. Set aside.
3. Whisk eggs with 2 or 3 tablespoons of water.
4. Layer half of the sweet plantain strips in a previously greased baking pan. Pour half of the egg wash over the plantains. Add the ground beef. Cover with half of the cheese. Layer the rest of the plantains. Add the rest of the egg wash. Top with the rest of the cheese.
5. Bake cover for 40 minutes cover at 350. Uncover and bake for 5 more minutes. Let it rest before serving.

Ingredients

• 8 to 10 ripe sweet plantains, sliced into strips
• 3 lbs ground beef
• 2 oz smoked ham, small diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pepper, diced
• 2 roasted red peppers, diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tbs dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 oz tomato sauce or puree
• (optional) pimento olives, sliced
• 4 oz mozarella cheese, grated
• 8 oz swiss cheese
• 3-4 eggs
• oil
• salt & pepper

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© 2013 IslandBites

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Comments

Brenda from Springfield, MO on June 22, 2013:

This looks very good. I can not rate to give it a try,

IslandBites (author) from Puerto Rico on May 20, 2013:

You could do individual portions in a muffin/cupcake pan.

Dianne Hunt from Maryland on May 20, 2013:

Love Pinon! I don't make it often cause my boys aren't too fond of plantains (I can't believe it!). Maybe I could make a smaller version of this for myself and my husband.

IslandBites (author) from Puerto Rico on April 22, 2013:

Hey :-)

Carlo Giovannetti from Puerto Rico on April 16, 2013:

Yumm, yumm! :-D