Sofrito (So-free-toe)
FYI .... recipe its at the bottom of page.
What does Sofrito mean?
It basically means to lightly fry or sautee. Its not a dish its just an "ingredient" added to your dish.
What is Sofrito?
Sofrito is a blend of fresh herbs, spices, and a few vegetables. This blend or sauce, may be used in stews, baked beans, seasoned rice, and even meat. It also varies in color, depending what color vegetable you use (ex, green, red, or yellow peppers), it can go from bright green to a light brown, and even red in color if its tomato based. Sofrito doesn't only add color to your food, but it also adds tons of flavor.
How do I cook it, how long can I store it for?
The way my grandma used to cook it, was by adding 2-3 tablespoons of sofrito in a hot pot with some olive oil. She would sauté it, and once you were able to smell the onions and peppers, she would go ahead and add her next ingredients (ex. beans or rice). Cover her pot, and let everything cook on its own.
If you freeze it, it can last you about 2 months before it gets frost bite, and in the fridge it can last you about 2 weeks.
LETS BEGIN, please keep in mind this is my version.
Tools Needed
Spoon ( your choice, I use wooden)
Blender or food processor
2-3 medium containers or 2 ice cube trays
Cutting board and knife
Ingredients
Bunch of cilantro ( at least 3 handfuls)
1 medium yellow onion (diced)
1 medium red onion (diced)
1 whole garlic bulb (about 10 medium cloves, peeled, no need to dice)
1 green bell pepper
1 red pepper
Fresh Oregano - cant find? use 2 tablespoons of dried oregano, but if you have dried and fresh, use both
1 Tablespoon of dried oregano
10 green olives
1 Tablespoon of olive juice
Pinch of Salt and Pepper (go easy on the salt, cause remember you will be salting your food again)
1/2 -1 cup of water - no oil
(some people add oil, but I don't, I find that it makes food too oily, cause not only are you putting oil in sofrito, you will use oil to cook sofrito in it too.)
Preparation
1. Wash your veggies. Now chop your cilantro, oregano, onions, and bell pepper in to bite size. And dump into blender. Now add garlic gloves, olives, and the rest of your dry ingredients and olive juice. No need to chop garlic and olives, they are small enough.
2. Blend all the ingredients in the blender at high or puree mood. If sofrito needs some help pureeing, now is a good time to add water. Now turn off blender, and push ingredients down with a spoon, turn
back on, continue to do this, until ingredients can puree themselves.
3. Now that your sofrito is done, it should be a thick consistency, kind of like Tostitos salsa, just green hehe.
4. Pour your sofrito into different containers (should take up about 4 small ones, or 2 medium ones), tighten lids and put into freezer or leave in fridge if your going to be using some soon. Or you can spoon the Sofrito into ice cube trays. Once cubes are filled to the top, pop trays into freezer, let it freeze overnight, and the next day pop them out, and dump them into a zip lock bag. 1 cube = 1 Tablespoon
I already had some frozen.
Hope you enjoy this new ingredient, in your cooking.
