

Pastelón de Plátano Maduro

See step-by-step photos Easy recipe . . . layered pastelón - tastes like relleno de plátano maduro, or piononos, but fast and easy to prepare. The platains are already cooked, all you have to do is mash the amarillos down a bit - layer on a pie plate with Puerto Rican picadillo. For those of you who do not know what a pionono is, see the next picture on this page. 1 box (1lb. Goya ripe sliced plantains)

1 lb. lean ground beef

¼ cup ready made Sofrito

2 tbsps. vegetable oil

¼ cup chopped onions

¼ cup chopped green peppers, or bell pepper

¼ cup chopped red or yellow pepper

¼ cup chopped tomato

½ can tomato sauce

1 tbsps. sliced olives and pimentos

1 tsp. capers

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1½ cups shredded cheese (optional)

1 egg, slightly beaten with 1 tbsp. water In a skillet heat up the oil, add the sofrito, peppers, onion, and tomato, and cook for about 2 minutes or so. Add the meat and cook until done, breaking down the meat as you go. Add tomato sauce, olives with pimentos and the capers, salt and black pepper. Stir and set aside. Heat up the platains in the microwave until hot. Then mash them down slightly using a fork. Pray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate with oil and layer with slices of plantain (these come already cooked) - about half the box. Layer half the meat over that, sprinkle with a it of cheese, then more plantains and then the rest of the meat. Sprinkle cheese over the last layer. Pour the egg as evenly as you can over the cheese. Cook at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until egg is cooked and cheese is melted. Serve warm.

This is a delicious side dish with rice or a great lunch with a salad. It is also a great 'cover dish' recipe. Yum! * Hint - Heat up the amarillos in the same paper tray they come in. Pour half in the pie dish and use a fork to mash them down and sort of mash them together to form a crust. Because they were heated in the microwave they are easy to mash down. Once you are ready for the next layer, just push remaining amarillos to one side of the tray and mash them down one at a time on the tray and layer over the meat. Here you will probably have a few empty spaces, just try to mash them down enough to cover as much of the meat as possible. Since all the ingredients are already warm or hot, all you have to do is bake it just long enough to cook the egg. If you will be serving this later, just cook it as you would, them warm it up covered with foil and them remove foil and broil for a few minutes until egg is crispy.