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I've never believed in keeping recipes secret. I know there are some of you out there who guard them with your life. To the
grave. Maybe it's your Mom's favorite cookie recipe, or Grandma's secret to
mile-high soufflé. I've heard people gloat under their breath that if they do
share a carefully guarded recipe, they purposely leave out the one ingredient
that really makes it sing. Oops! Such passive aggressiveness has no place in
the world of food - or at least I think so.
Be that as it may...
I encountered just such a person several years back, and like a Taylor
Swift song, I'll never reveal the person's identity. What I can tell you
though, is he arrived at a potluck party with the one dish there that blew my
mind. "It's pastalone," he said. "It looks delicious. What is it?" I asked
curiously. "Puerto Rican lasagna," he explained. I had no idea there was such
a thing, but he had me at "Meat filling and cheese, layered with fried
plantains." I was the first person to go in for his dish. It was awesome. I
don't remember anything else that lined the buffet table that night, or even
what I brought to the party, but I couldn't get the pastalone out of my head. With my mouth still full, I asked him for the recipe. And
just like that...
He shut me down.
He eyed me as if I was asking for his social security number. "This is my
Nana's recipe," he said flatly. "I don't give it out."
Oh. Okay.
I suddenly stopped shoveling the pastalone into my mouth and looked down at
the few remaining bites on my paper Dixie plate. Like a CSI agent I started sifting through the
evidence. I had to figure out what was in this dish. And so I did. I pushed
through it with my fork, inspecting each ingredient that I could see; the rest
was reliant on my sense of taste. Obsessive? Sure, but I wasn't about to let
this dish slip through my fingers. I had to have it.
Meanwhile, back in my home kitchen...
I reconstructed the recipe as best I could. Surprisingly, I came pretty
close with my first attempt. One more pass and I was confident I had recreated
Nana's recipe, maybe even improved on it a bit.
And now...
When I go to a potluck, this is the dish I bring. And when I go to
a potluck, this is the recipe I share.
Pastalone
(My version of Puerto Rican lasagna)
Serves
8
2 tablespoons olive
oil
½ large onion,
chopped
½ green bell pepper,
diced
3 cloves garlic,
minced
2 bay
leaves
1 1/3 pound ground
sirloin
1 teaspoon dried
oregano
Kosher salt &
freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
½ cup green olives,
pitted and chopped
1/3 cup golden
raisins
Vegetable oil (to
fry plantains)
4 large ripe
plantains
1 tablespoon
unsalted butter, room temperature, for buttering dish
2 cups shredded
sharp cheddar cheese, divided
6 large eggs
beaten
In a medium skillet
heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté onions, peppers and bay leaf until
onions are translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds
more. Add the ground sirloin, oregano
and season with salt and pepper. Cook
until the meat is no longer pink, about 6 minutes; drain. Stir in the olives and raisins. Set meat mixture aside.
In a heavy bottom
skillet heat enough vegetable oil to make a ¼-inch depth over medium high
heat. Peel and slice the
plantains lengthwise into 1/4–inch strips (about 3 per plantain) and fry until
golden and crisp, about 3 minutes per side.
Allow to drain on paper towels.
Preheat the oven to
350 degrees.
To assemble the
pastalone: butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking dish and lay
the plantains in a single layer along the bottom, cutting to fit if
necessary. Sprinkle one cup of the
cheese over the plantains and layer the meat mixture over the top. Sprinkle the remaining cup of cheese over the
meat and top with another layer of plantains.
Whisk the eggs and pour slowly over the pastalone allowing them to seep
into the meat mixture.
Bake uncovered
for 20 to 25 minutes until eggs are set and plantains are tender. Allow the pastalone to rest for 10 minutes
before slicing and serving.
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