Posts Tagged ‘Pinon’

September 23rd, 2010

The Pinon, Puertorican Cuisine, Plantains, Picadillo, Gluten Free

I am still trying to master cooking with plantains; a versatile vegetable used in a lot of the Latin cuisine.

So, I had some ripe plantains in my house and decided to make a Pinon. This a Puertorican traditional dish. It is basically a lasagna using plantains instead of noodles.

Still peeling and then slicing them lenthwise is tricky. I would like to be able to slice them thin but it is hard. Then, you have to fry them until they reach a golden color.

The word Picadillo means chopped; the ground beef, onions, olives, and everything you want to add to the meat.

I had to sit down and write the recipe because it was one of those that you add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Oh, let’s try that spice or let me add more raisins, you know, making it your own. So, here it goes.

Pinon de Carne

5 ripe plantains (yellow skin)

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oil for frying

2 tbps. olive oil

1 onion chopped

1 green pepper chopped or a red one

1 garlic clove or a tsp. of garlic powder

1 tsp. oregano

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 cup sliced olives with minced pimientos

8 ounces tomato sauce

pepper to taste

salt, optional

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 small boxes of raisins

1 can french style green beans

4 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel plantains and cut lengthwise. Fry them in the oil until golden. Take out and place on paper towels to drain.

Frying plantains

Ready to take them out

In a separate frying pan put the olive oil and add onion, pepper, garlic, oregano, cilantro, cinnamon, cumin and any other spices that you might like to add.

Sautee for about 5 minutes.

Then add ground beef and break it down as it cooks. Add olives, tomato sauce, 1/2 of the canned beans and raisins.

Cook for another 5 minutes or longer until it becomes a “picadillo”.

Picadillo

Taste and season to your liking.

Grease a 12 x 71/2 x 2 baking dish. Beat 2 of the eggs and place on the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange 1/2 of the plantains on top of the egg mixture. Then put 1/2 of the picadillo and spread, pat it down, and then the rest of the canned beans on top.

Once that is done then arrange the rest of the plantains, beat the eggs and put that mixture on top of the plantains. The idea is that when it bakes the eggs will hold everything together and you will be able to slice it without crumbling.