Sofrito
Aunt Evelyn shares her recipe for the traditional base to many latin-style dishes. The long prep time is due in part to using almost a head of garlic. A jar of pre-peeled garlic cloves would cut down on the prep time by about 15 minutes. The mixture of onion, garlic, peppers, and cilantro can be sautéed in oil and add a wonderful flavor and depth to almost any meal. Originally served as part of Nick's Really Big Latin Style Meal.
Ingredients
- 2½ ounces 23 cloves garlic (peeled)
- 2 medium yellow onions
- ½ large green bell pepper (seeds and ribs removed)
- 2 cubanelle peppers (seeds and ribs removed)
- ½ bunch cilantro (cleaned and patted dry)
Instructions
We start by getting our food processor plugged in.
On our cutting board we mince the garlic. We cut the onions, bell pepper, and cubanelles into chunks. We add these to the processor and turn on for about 20 seconds. We want the vegetables to get coarsely chopped.
Since we have the processor nearly full, we remove the veggies to a bowl before adding the cilantro. We pulse to chop the cilantro and then add the veggies back to the processor. We pulse a few more times until the mixture is green and the sofrito is finely chopped. We do not want it to be finely pureed, we just want it nicely minced.
We pour the mixture into a large bowl - we have about 3½ cups. The mixture can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen in small quantities for future latin-style dishes.