Puerto Rican Pastelón (Sweet Plantain and Picadillo Bake)
Puerto Rico's "big cake": strips of very ripe plantain, oven-roasted until caramelized, layered like lasagna noodles with a beef picadillo of olives, capers and tomato, bound with beaten egg and melted mozzarella.
Edited by JP Lambiase
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*Pastelón*, Spanish for "big cake", is a casserole from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic made with plantains, sofrito and seasoned ground beef; in Puerto Rico, sweet ripe plantains, cut in long strips and fried, take the place of lasagna noodles (Wikipedia:). In the Dominican Republic the plantains are boiled and mashed instead.
Its story runs through New York. PBS's *The Great American Recipe* says it began as *pastel horneado*, "baked pie", made without cheese, and that around mid-century, when Puerto Ricans and Italians lived side by side in New York City, it turned into a Latin lasagna with cheese and then went back to the island. Food Network's kitchen says the dish has been around for at least a century, that the lasagna-like version "is said to have emerged" in New York City, and that mid-20th-century Puerto Rican recipes added prunes, raisins, hard-boiled eggs and green beans. Tasting Table (Nikita Ephanov, September 20, 2023) says it was first mentioned in a cookbook only in 1948 and that many consider New York its birthplace. So the Americanized version may be the one everyone now calls traditional. It pairs with the site's classic American lasagna: same layers, plantains for pasta.
Why it works the kitchen science
Very ripe plantains
When the skin is mostly black, the starch has turned to sugar, so the strips roast soft and caramelized like sweet noodles instead of dry and starchy.
Egg as glue
Beaten egg poured under and over the layers sets in the oven and holds plantains, meat and cheese together, so a square stands up on the plate like lasagna.
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Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 425°F with racks in the upper and lower thirds, and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Peel the plantains and cut each lengthwise into 4 long strips about 1/4 inch thick. Lay them on the sheets, brush both sides with the oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Step 2
Roast 20 to 25 minutes, flipping the strips and swapping the pans halfway, until golden and caramelized at the edges. Lower the oven to 350°F.
- Step 3
While they roast, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the beef with the salt and pepper 4 to 5 minutes, add the onion and green pepper and cook 5 minutes, until soft, then the garlic for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, capers, olives and brine, oregano and cilantro. Simmer on low 10 minutes, until thick. Spoon off any fat.
- Step 4
Oil a 9x13-inch baking dish. Pour in half the beaten egg and tilt to coat the bottom. Lay a third of the plantain strips over it, spread half the picadillo on top and sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella.
- Step 5
Add another third of the plantains and the rest of the picadillo, then the last plantains. Pour the remaining egg over the top, spreading it with a spoon so it reaches the edges, and scatter on the last of the mozzarella.
- Step 6
Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes at 350°F, then uncover and bake 15 minutes more, until the cheese is melted and browning and the center reads 165°F.
- Step 7
Rest 10 minutes so the egg sets and the layers cut cleanly. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
Puerto Rican Pastelón (Sweet Plantain and Picadillo Bake)
Serves 10 · one 9x13-inch pan · 1 hr 55 min total
Plantains
- 8 very ripe plantains, skins mostly black (about 5 lb / 2.24 kg)
- 3 tbsp (41 g) vegetable or canola oil
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Picadillo
- 2 tbsp (27 g) olive oil, plus more for the dish
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) ground beef, 85% lean
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 medium onion (150 g), diced
- 1 green bell pepper (150 g), diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- One 14.5-oz (411 g) can diced tomatoes
- 2 tbsp (32 g) tomato paste
- 1 tbsp capers
- 8 pimiento-stuffed green olives, chopped, plus 1 tbsp of their brine
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped, plus a little for the top
Assembly
- 5 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
- 10 oz (283 g) low-moisture mozzarella, shredded (about 2 1/2 cups), divided
Equipment: Oven, 9x13-inch baking dish, Rimmed baking sheet, Large skillet, Instant-read thermometer, Deep-fry or candy thermometer, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Pastry brush, Parchment paper, Aluminum foil
Method
- Heat the oven to 425°F with racks in the upper and lower thirds, and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Peel the plantains and cut each lengthwise into 4 long strips about 1/4 inch thick. Lay them on the sheets, brush both sides with the oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Roast 20 to 25 minutes, flipping the strips and swapping the pans halfway, until golden and caramelized at the edges. Lower the oven to 350°F.
- While they roast, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the beef with the salt and pepper 4 to 5 minutes, add the onion and green pepper and cook 5 minutes, until soft, then the garlic for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, capers, olives and brine, oregano and cilantro. Simmer on low 10 minutes, until thick. Spoon off any fat.
- Oil a 9x13-inch baking dish. Pour in half the beaten egg and tilt to coat the bottom. Lay a third of the plantain strips over it, spread half the picadillo on top and sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella.
- Add another third of the plantains and the rest of the picadillo, then the last plantains. Pour the remaining egg over the top, spreading it with a spoon so it reaches the edges, and scatter on the last of the mozzarella.
- Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes at 350°F, then uncover and bake 15 minutes more, until the cheese is melted and browning and the center reads 165°F.
- Rest 10 minutes so the egg sets and the layers cut cleanly. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
Adapted from Food Network Kitchen, "Pastelón de Amarillos", 6 to 8 servings in a 9-inch square dish. We follow its picadillo (beef browned, onion, green pepper and garlic, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, capers, chopped stuffed olives with a spoon of brine, cilantro, simmered 10 minutes) and its assembly (half the beaten egg in the bottom, plantains, meat, cheese, plantains, meat, plantains, the rest of the egg, cheese; covered at 350°F, then uncovered until browned). Our changes: a 9x13 for 10 with 8 plantains instead of 6, 5 eggs, 10 oz mozzarella and 2 tbsp tomato paste, with the same 1 1/2 lb of beef; and the plantains are roasted on sheet pans with 3 tbsp oil instead of shallow-fried in 1 cup, which is easier for beginners and saves oil. Bake times for the larger pan and the 165°F check are ours. Estimated cost: about $23.74 for the pan, about $2.37 a serving. Food Network. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (4)
Tips
- Buy plantains a week ahead and leave them on the counter; yellow ones with a few black spots will work but taste less sweet.
- Make ahead: roast the plantains and make the picadillo a day ahead and refrigerate separately (house rule); assemble with fresh egg just before baking and add 10 minutes covered. The baked pastelón keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes for up to 3 months; reheat to 165°F.
- Dominican style: boil the peeled plantains 15 to 20 minutes and mash them with butter instead of roasting strips (the Dominican method Wikipedia describes).
- Ground turkey works; cook it to 165°F.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Pastelón was born in New York. Disputed: Food Network's kitchen says the lasagna-like version "is said to have emerged" in New York, and Tasting Table says many consider the city its birthplace; PBS says an older baked version without cheese came first, in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and the New York version went back to the island.
- It is at least a century old. Disputed: Food Network says so; Tasting Table says the first cookbook mention is from 1948.
- The original had no cheese. Documented as PBS's account; the mid-century recipes Food Network describes had prunes, raisins, eggs and green beans.
- Plantains must be fried. Folklore: Puerto Rican recipes usually fry them (Wikipedia, Food Network); Dominican cooks boil and mash them; we roast.
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