Quick & Easy "Pastelon" Bowl

Pastelon is a Puerto Rican dish that resembles a lasagna. Amarillos (sweet plantains) replace noodles and picadillo replaces the traditional Italian-style filling. The dish is a tasty combination of sweet and salty. Picadillo can also be served in a variety of dishes such as over rice or in tacos and burritos, to name a few. Pastelon can also be made as a meat "pie" by grinding the plantains. Later on I will prepare one of these for the blog (and my belly), but for now I thought I'd take a stab at putting together a simpler bowl-verision. It incorporates the predominant flavors in traditional Pastelon, but it comes together much faster.

Beefless Picadillo

2 12 oz packs of Trader Joe's Beef-less Ground Beef (or your beef substitute of choice)

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes 

4 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 cup diced green bell pepper

a handful of manzanilla olives

1/4 cup Goya Recaito

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp Goya Adobo Light (or to taste)

1 tbsp oil (vegetable or olive) or cooking spray

1. Coat the bottom of the caldero with oil.

2. Sautee onion, garlic and pepper until fragrant.

3. Add beef substitute and Adobo. Cook on medium-high for 3-5 minutes, stirring.

4. Add tomatoes, Recaito, oregano, olives. Once mixture begins to bubble, lower heat and cook another 5 minutes. 

Serve in a bowl with Goya frozen amarillos, cooked according to package directions.

Buen provecho!