Sofrito REVAMPED! Sofrito made three ways

Hola senores y senoritas! For today's Spanish lesson I'd like to introduce you to Jenny 's Sofrito. Soo-free-toe, which according to Wikipedia is a sauce used as a base in Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American cooking. Preparations may vary, but it typically consists of aromatic ingredients cut into small pieces and sauteed or braised in cooking oil.

Today we will focus on my revamped Latin variation using garlic, onions, cilantro, sweet peppers, and olive oil as the base for this base. I make mine into cubes! It's easy to make, the only tools you need is a blender and 2 ice cube trays. It adds an intense Latin flare to veggies, fish, chicken, pork or beef. I add annatto (for color). I do not add salt, hot peppers or tomatoes because I like the option of adding salt or other spices to my food as necessary. The way I'm revamping this old well known recipe is by splitting it into three and sneaking extra veggies into it. Kale is super high in vitamins A, K and C and is packed with tons of other great nutrients for a healthy boost to an already flavorful seasoning. Carrots are one of my favorite veggies anyways so why not give them a try as well.

 Red snapper topped with my carrot sofrito and fried plantains

 Plain sofrito, carrot sofrito, and kale sofrito

 My three methods of storage are: glass containers, cubes, or zip lock "sheets"

4 heads of garlic peeled 

3 onions peeled and cut in quarters 

1 bunch cilantro leaves with stems or roughly a 1 1/2 cups coarsely torn

3 sweet bell peppers - seeds removed and cut into sections (the colors only effect the color not the taste so any color is fine)

2 TBSP. vinegar

1 TBSP. Annatto infused olive oil (heat oil with 1/4 tsp. annatto seeds for 5 minutes, a little goes a long way!)  

Optional: 1 cup coarsely chopped kale or carrots

Once everything is cleaned and cut, place in blender or food processor in sections alternating ingredients and If necessary add only enough water to get a thick paste. Pour into ice cube trays and once frozen store in zip bag for up to two months.  

Now what to do with this stuff? Above is one example in which I simply took a whole fish, seasoned with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper then coated it in carrot sofrito, gave it another generous sprinkle of salt, a pinch of cumin seeds and baked it for 15 minutes covered and 15 uncovered. Then served with a fried plantain.

Below I used the simple sofrito on a piece of short rib which I slow roasted a few hours and served with smashed potatoes, string beans and carrots with brown sugar, salt and ginger and there you have it!


Eat Well not Less. Live Long, not hard and build a Divine Appetite! 

  

No accolades could amount to the boss giving it a thumbs up!