Pastelón de Plátano Maduro

Ingredients

• 6 very ripe plantains
• 50 g butter
• 60 ml milk
• 600 g beef mince
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2½ tbsp tomato purée
• 1½ tsp dried oregano
• a handful of olives, chopped
• 1 tbsp capers
• 40 g raisins
• 200 g cheddar or gouda, grated
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1½ tsp salt

Method

1. Boil the maduros

   Peel the ripe plantains and boil them for fifteen minutes until very soft. Use blackened ones; a yellow plantain gives you a savoury layer with none of the sweetness the dish is built on.

   15 min

2. Mash with butter and milk

   Mash hot with the butter, milk and salt into a smooth, spreadable purée.

3. Sofrito

   Soften the onion, garlic and green pepper in a wide pan.

   7 min

4. Brown the mince properly

   Add the mince, tomato purée and oregano and cook it until it is genuinely browned and dry. A wet filling turns the plantain layer to slurry in the oven.

   15 min

5. Sweet and salt together

   Stir in the olives, capers and raisins. The combination looks odd written down and is the signature of the dish — the raisins answer the plantain, the capers cut both.

6. Layer and bake

   Fold the eggs into the plantain mash, then layer mash, meat, half the cheese, mash, and the rest of the cheese in a buttered dish. Bake at 190°C for thirty-five minutes until set and browned.

   35 min

7. Rest before cutting

   Let it stand fifteen minutes. Cut straight from the oven it slides apart; rested, it holds a square.

   15 min