Description
- Baked Puerto Rican Pastel is a version of our individually wrapped traditional pastel except that it is baked in a large baking pan. The dough is very creamy and the meat, pork meat filling, is perfectly seasoned. This is a quick and easy version of preparing pastel for a small crowd. Your guests can serve themselves without the hassle of unwrapping each pastel.
Scale
Ingredients
Annatto Oil:
- 2 cups extra virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup annatto seeds
Meat Filling:
- 1½ pounds pork shoulder butt roast, rinsed, trimmed of excess fat and cut into ½-inch cubes
- ½ cup water
- 4 ounces lean ham, diced
- 1½ teaspoon salt (low sodium) or to taste
- ⅓ cup annatto oil
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons sofrito
- 4 sprigs cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup seedless raisins, optional
- 15 pimento-stuffed green olives, cut into halves
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained
- 1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans, without liquid
Dough Mixture:
- 7 green bananas, peeled
- 1½ pounds yautía (taro root), peeled
- 1 green plantain, peeled
- 1½ tablespoons salt (low sodium) or to taste
- 1 cup annatto oil
- 1 cup warm skim milk or the milk of your preference
Instructions
- In a saucepan, pour oil and add annatto seeds over medium low heat. Stir well and heat until the oil turns a bright red orange color, approximately 5 minutes. Strain oil.
- Pour water and add pork meat into a 4-quart saucepan. Cover saucepan and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add remaining ingredients listed for the meat filling. Bring the liquid to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium low. Cook for 50 minutes or until pork meat is thoroughly cooked and most of the liquid is absorbed. Set aside.
- Grate the starchy fruits and root vegetables using a food processor or box grater.
- Place dough into a large bowl and stir until well blended.
- Add salt and annatto oil and stir until the color of dough is uniform.
- Gradually pour warm milk and stir dough until well blended.
- Cut 2 plantain leaves to place inside a baking pan, measuring 13 x 9 x 2 inches. Clean plantain leaves with wet cloth on both sides. Grease only one side of plantain leaf with annatto oil.
- Slightly grease bottom and sides of baking pan with annatto oil. Place one plantain leaf at the bottom of pan with greased side up.
- Layer with dough (4 cups) and spread evenly on top.
- Add second layer with the entire pork meat filling.
- Cover pork meat filling with another layer of dough (4 cups).
- Lastly, place the second plantain leaf with greased side down on top of dough. Cover pan with aluminum foil.
- Fill a large aluminum pan with ½ inch of water. Place the baking dish that contains the pastel into aluminum pan with water and place in oven.
- Bake for 1 to 2 hours at 400°F or until the pastel is thoroughly cooked.
- Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Remove top plantain leaf. Cut into even squares and serve warm.
Notes
The plantain leaves are not edible. When lifting a slice of the pastel with a spatula, make sure to keep the bottom leaf in pan.
If you have any leftover pastel, you can steam them, using a vegetable steamer, for a creamy and moist pastel instead of microwaving.
- Category: Meat Filling Dish
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Keywords: Pasteles, Pastel, Meat Pies, Baked Pastel