Sofrito

As many of us know all to closely the familiar smell when we were growing up of our mothers making sofrito in their kitchen. Here is a recipe from my good friend and fellow foodie Carlos Vazquez who was eager to share some of his family secrets with us. Here is the recipe to the staple to every puerto rican kitchen:

Sofrito Recipe

Ingredients:
3 large green bell peppers
2 medium red bell peppers
40 - 60 stems of culantro
20 - 30 stems of recao
5 medium onions
4 heads of garlic
1 tbsp of salt

HOWTO:

Get all the garlic cloves seperated from each other. Put into a container and fill with water until the garlic cloves are fully covered. Set aside. This will help peel the garlic easier later on. Wash the peppers, culantro, and recao. Open the bell peppers and remove the stems and the seed from inside. Cut the peppers into strips along the length about 1/4" wide. Set these items aside. Peel the onions and cut into 4 to 8 pieces each. At this time remove the garlic from the water and peel the garlic. Mix all the items in a blender or a food processor, starting with the onions and the garlic, then adding peppers and the culantro and recao. You might have to fill the blender more than once. Mix until everything is pureed. Pour the contents of the mixture into a large container and add the salt. Mix by hand until the salt is more or less evenly distributed. Put a small amount of this mixture in a container in the refrigerator for everyday use and store the rest in the freezer.


Thank you carlitos and to all Buen Provecho!!!!

G