Puerto Rican Piononos

In our monthly Zoom classes, we cover a wide range of flavours and Caribbean recipes unique to our Caribbean region. For our November 2024 class, we prepared Puerto Rican Piononos along with a number of other appetizers (which we'll add shortly).

Piononos are plantain cups which contain picadillo, a tasty treat with made with ground beef, adobo seasoning, and a variety of other goodies.

This recipe was a real treat, but when you buy your plantains, make sure you let them ripen so that they have a bunch of black spots. Plantains go from starchy to sweet as they ripen over time.

To Make the Picadillo...

• ½ Cup onions finely diced

• ½ Cup seasoning peppers finely diced

• 2 Cloves garlic minced

• 1 Teaspoon Sazon

• 1 Teaspoon Adobo seasoning

• 1 Teaspoon salt

• 2 Bay leaves

• ½ Cup tomato sauce

• 2 Tablespoons pimento olives diced

In a large frying pan, sauté the peppers and onions until soft. Add the garlic and

ground beef, breaking up the beef as it cooks. When the beef has browned, add

the seasonings, bay leaves, tomato sauce and olives. Bring the sauce to a boil,

then reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes until all the flavors have blended

and the meat is fully cooked.

To Make the Plantain Cups...

• Large very ripe plantains

• Oil for frying

Peel the plantains and cut them lengthwise into ¼ inch planks. Heat the oil

and fry the plantains in batches, until each plank is golden brown. Transfer the

fried plantain to a plate lined with a paper towel to remove the excess oil.

To Assemble the Piononos...

• 4 Eggs

• Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 400oF/205oC. Prepare the muffin tins by spraying the wells

with cooking spray, and then lining each well with a fried plantain plank. Fill

each cup well with 2 tablespoons of the prepared picadillo.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, pour the beaten egg into the

plantain cups and top with a little bit of cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes until the egg has set.

As always, enjoy!

---

Tell Us What You Think!

If this recipe makes your mouth water, why don’t you come for cooking classes in Antigua or contact us for our Zoom classes. Come for one class or a series of classes and you can even stay in our BnB.