[Recipe + Video] Pastelón de Plátano Maduro (Ripe Plantain Casserole)

Pastelón de Plátano Maduro Recipe (Ripe Plantain Casserole): The delicate sweetness of ripe plantains, flavorful beef filling, and melting cheese.Pure bliss.

Course Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine Dominican, Latino

Keyword maduro, pastelon

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings porciones

Calories 754kcal

Author Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

!For the filling

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red onion [65g] minced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
1 lb [454g] minced beef
1 cup tomato sauce [115g]
1 seeded and minced bell pepper 76g] minced
1 ½ tsp salt (or more, to taste)
½ tsp pepper (or more, to taste)
1 tsp chopped cilantro (or parsley)

!To assemble

6 plantains (very ripe)
1 tsp salt
¼ cup butter plus extra to grease pan.
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (see notes)

Instructions

For the filling

Make filling: Find recipe and instructions for filling here.

To assemble

Boil plantains: Peel the plantains and boil adding 1 teaspoon of salt to the water. Once the plantains are fork tender (15 - 20 mins), remove from the heat.
Mash: Take the plantains out of the water right away, and mash them with a fork.
Add the butter and keep mashing until it is very smooth with no lumps.
Layer: Grease a 1-inch tall baking pan. Put half of the plantains mixture in the baking pan. Cover with half of the cheese.
Cover the cheese with the meat. Cover with the remaining plantain mixture. Cover with the rest of the cheese.
Bake: Cook in preheated oven to 350 °F [175 °C] until the top is golden brown.
Serving: It will be easier to serve if you wait five minutes after removing from the oven.

Video

Notes

Your choice of cheese and the order in which the layers are distributed is a matter of taste. Basically, any cheese that melts works, I like mixing cheddar and mozzarella, for example, while some people like placing the cheese right after the meat layer.

Go ahead, experiment!

Nutrition