What is sofrito? It’s a blend of fresh vegetables and herbs used to season. What is sofrito used for? It’s used in a lot of things. Beans, stews, rices, etc. What does the title of this post mean? I heard it in John Leguizamo’s stand up on HBO. It literally means Sofrito, cuchifrito (fried food like empanadillas or alcapurrias), fuck it (as in nevermind or whatever), just a little.
I’ll be writing a few of my recipes where I use sofrito, so if you don’t have any in the kitchen you should start from here. There are many recipes out there for making sofrito, but this is the one I learned from my mother:
Ingredients:
green and/or red peppers (bell or any non spicy pepper) [seeded]
onions (yellow or white) [chopped]
garlic cloves [peeled]
culantro leaves (this can substituted with cilantro) [roots chopped off]
Wash all vegetables and leaves, chop 5-6 onions in half and then in quarters, depending on their size.
In a blender or food processor toss in 1-2 green peppers depending on their size, for color you can add 1/2 or 1 red pepper. Make sure to take out the seeds first. Turn on the blender. If the peppers get stuck to the blades add a tablespoon of water or vinegar. Stop the blender.
Add the culantro or cilantro and half of the onions and continue blending. (Each time you’re gonna add something in, make sure to stop the blender. When blending, if it gets stuck just add a tablespoon of water or vinegar.)
Next add about 10-20 garlic cloves. Continue blending and then add the rest of the onions.
You’ll know when you’re done once everything is well blended. You should never add too much water or vinegar because you want a concentrated batch.
Once you’re done pour the mixture into a container and put it in the refrigerator. You might think you made too much, but you can never have too much sofrito. Don’t worry about it going bad, it won’t. Especially if you used vinegar.
I love sofrito, but I hate making it. My hands end up smelling like sofrito for a day or two, no matter how many times I wash them. *smile* But that’s ok, it’s a good thing I only have to make it every couple of months.
I’m more than happy to share what little I know about cooking to the world. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, it’s always good to know different seasonings to boost flavour in your food.
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