The Art of Spanish Lasagna: A Culinary Journey with Pit Master Jacob

As we welcome our guests to the world of barbecue, Pit Master Jacob takes us on a culinary journey through the streets of Spain. He begins by preparing a dish called "Pastelona," a Spanish take on lasagna that combines noodles made from plantains with ground beef and cheese. The aroma of sizzling meat and spices wafts through the air as we join Jacob in his kitchen, eager to learn the secrets behind this delicious creation.

The first step in making Pastelona is to prepare the plantain noodles. Jacob carefully opens the plantains, revealing their smooth, creamy flesh beneath the skin. He then proceeds to cut the plantains into strips, inspecting each one for even thickness before moving on to the next. With patience and precision, he begins to assemble the lasagna, starting with a layer of marinara sauce to prevent the noodles from sticking together.

Next, Jacob layers the plantain noodles with ground beef, cooked until it's browned and fragrant. He adds diced onions, Spanish olives, crushed garlic, and a sprinkle of sofrito – an essential spice blend in Spanish cuisine – before stirring everything together. The mixture is then seasoned with key Spanish seasonings, including Zone with Chote and adobo, which add depth and complexity to the dish.

As we watch Jacob prepare the beef mixture, he explains the importance of using high-quality ingredients, particularly when it comes to cheese. He chooses a very good, high-melting cheese to give the lasagna its signature oozeiness. With a satisfied nod, he adds a generous amount of cheese to the mixture, layering it on top of the plantain noodles.

With the beef mixture in place, Jacob moves on to add another layer of flavor – this time, a sprinkle of queso blanco and a pinch of salt. He carefully places the lasagna into the indirect heat zone of his grill, where it will cook slowly and evenly, allowing the cheese to melt and the flavors to meld together.

As we wait for the lasagna to finish cooking, Jacob takes us on a tour of his kitchen, pointing out the various ingredients and tools he uses in his cooking. We learn about the importance of using fresh, high-quality spices and seasonings, as well as the different types of cheese available to add depth and complexity to our dishes.

Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for – the first slice of Pastelona is cut, revealing a perfectly cooked lasagna with layers of plantain noodles, ground beef, and melted cheese. The aroma wafts up, tantalizing our taste buds and tempting us to take a bite. As we sink our teeth into this delicious creation, we're transported to the streets of Spain, where the flavors and aromas come together in perfect harmony.

With every bite of Pastelona, we're reminded of the power of food to bring people together. Whether you're from Spain or just visiting, this dish is sure to delight your taste buds and leave you wanting more. So, the next time you're looking for a recipe to try, be sure to check out Pit Master Jacob's world of barbecue – where the art of Spanish lasagna comes alive in all its delicious glory.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: engonna smoke me a fatty brisket I got my barbecue shoes on gonna smoke welcome to barbecuepitboys.com today Pit Master Jacob is cooking some pest alone it's on the pit all right you gotta check this out so today we are making a dish called pastelona what that essentially is is a Spanish take on lasagna and a set of noodles I'm gonna be some plantains that's right you heard it we're gonna fry these up these are of the sweet variety not the green I want to make sure these are really ripe and then what we also got here is some ground beef 80 20 Chuck some onions that are diced we got some olives here Spanish olives with the pimentos in them we got some crushed garlic here this is essential right here this is something called Sofrito this is an amazing mix of peppers and cilantro and cilantro but it's essentially essential for everything in Spanish cuisine rice uh soups to meat dishes we've also got a little marinara sauce here we're going to use on the bottom to make sure nothing sticks and then some key Spanish seasonings here one being a couple packets inside Zone with the Chote in there and then also adobo all right so we got our Weber going here we got an indirect setup on the back we got our hot coals foreign to this mix we're going to add our garlic that all in there and we're going to add in our olives now these olives who want chopped up first as you see and give them another little chop in there too while you're at it all right to this mixture we're going to add in our Sazon this is going to add a little color to your beef and then a signature achote flavor and then we're also going to add in our sofrito and a little adobo give it a mix now this is essentially going to be your beef mixture that you're going to use in your lasagna place it which you would typically use and an Italian lasagna set that aside all right so the next step in this is to prepare your plantain noodles here right so what we're going to do is we're going to open these plantains up foreign all right once you have the skin off your plantains what you want to do gonna make these strips so and to inspect the thickness of these strips here so I can get about three to four strips per plantain so what we're going to do here next is we're going to assemble our lasagna here first we're going to add a little marinara to the bottom and this is just to make sure nothing sticks when we go to cut it out of here Shake Bingo like so now first layer is going to be some plantains what you want to do is you want to make sure you cover Tire bottom foreign nice and tight like that then we're going to come in here with some beef I need to layer that on top that right here is about half the mixture in your first layer then one thing I failed to mention in the beginning is that we're going to need lots of cheese and I'm using mozzarella here and I want to use a very good high melting cheese here give it that nice pulse like a monterey jack would go well there's some queso blanco nice layer of cheese now I'm going to come back in here with our plantain again another layer foreign all right I want to hear it again with some cheese all right look at the side of that thing layers of plantain meat cheese let's melt it so we're gonna do take a lasagna here or passed alone add it to the indirect side cook it like an oven let's let that cheese melt get it all ooey gooey inside all right let's take a look at this see what it looks like here oh man look at the bubbling action on this guys got to get in on this let's take a look foreign take a cut into this let's see what we got here foreign foreign awesome let's get in on some of this so the next time you're looking for a recipe your pit check out barbecuepitboys.com thank yougonna smoke me a fatty brisket I got my barbecue shoes on gonna smoke welcome to barbecuepitboys.com today Pit Master Jacob is cooking some pest alone it's on the pit all right you gotta check this out so today we are making a dish called pastelona what that essentially is is a Spanish take on lasagna and a set of noodles I'm gonna be some plantains that's right you heard it we're gonna fry these up these are of the sweet variety not the green I want to make sure these are really ripe and then what we also got here is some ground beef 80 20 Chuck some onions that are diced we got some olives here Spanish olives with the pimentos in them we got some crushed garlic here this is essential right here this is something called Sofrito this is an amazing mix of peppers and cilantro and cilantro but it's essentially essential for everything in Spanish cuisine rice uh soups to meat dishes we've also got a little marinara sauce here we're going to use on the bottom to make sure nothing sticks and then some key Spanish seasonings here one being a couple packets inside Zone with the Chote in there and then also adobo all right so we got our Weber going here we got an indirect setup on the back we got our hot coals foreign to this mix we're going to add our garlic that all in there and we're going to add in our olives now these olives who want chopped up first as you see and give them another little chop in there too while you're at it all right to this mixture we're going to add in our Sazon this is going to add a little color to your beef and then a signature achote flavor and then we're also going to add in our sofrito and a little adobo give it a mix now this is essentially going to be your beef mixture that you're going to use in your lasagna place it which you would typically use and an Italian lasagna set that aside all right so the next step in this is to prepare your plantain noodles here right so what we're going to do is we're going to open these plantains up foreign all right once you have the skin off your plantains what you want to do gonna make these strips so and to inspect the thickness of these strips here so I can get about three to four strips per plantain so what we're going to do here next is we're going to assemble our lasagna here first we're going to add a little marinara to the bottom and this is just to make sure nothing sticks when we go to cut it out of here Shake Bingo like so now first layer is going to be some plantains what you want to do is you want to make sure you cover Tire bottom foreign nice and tight like that then we're going to come in here with some beef I need to layer that on top that right here is about half the mixture in your first layer then one thing I failed to mention in the beginning is that we're going to need lots of cheese and I'm using mozzarella here and I want to use a very good high melting cheese here give it that nice pulse like a monterey jack would go well there's some queso blanco nice layer of cheese now I'm going to come back in here with our plantain again another layer foreign all right I want to hear it again with some cheese all right look at the side of that thing layers of plantain meat cheese let's melt it so we're gonna do take a lasagna here or passed alone add it to the indirect side cook it like an oven let's let that cheese melt get it all ooey gooey inside all right let's take a look at this see what it looks like here oh man look at the bubbling action on this guys got to get in on this let's take a look foreign take a cut into this let's see what we got here foreign foreign awesome let's get in on some of this so the next time you're looking for a recipe your pit check out barbecuepitboys.com thank you\n"