Sofrito

Ingredients:

3-4 large green peppers
5 heads of garlic
4-5 large yellow onions
1 bunch of cilantro
1/2 cup vegetable oil
appx. 50 recao leaves
appx. 20 ajies dulces (sweet peppers for cooking)

Combine all ingredients into a food processor or blender and chop adding small amounts of water at a time. You don't want this soupy...but not chuncky either. You almost want it like pancake batter consistency for freezing. Leave some chunks if you like all the ingredients...if you don't, don't!

Put in a dish for immediate use or if you want to save it you can put it in a freezer safe dish or freeze in an ice cube tray. After freezing in an ice cube tray be sure to pop out the cubes and put in a zip lock bag or a dish.

When you are ready to use it, just drop a cube or two into whatever you are cooking. I use it in soups, rice and beans (habichuelas)etc.

Happy cooking!

Welcome to RoadFood, and thanks for the recipe. You'll find us by and large a pretty friendly group, though there's a fair amount of good-natured ribbing in some of the topics.

Rick

Thanks Rick F.!

definitions for the less informed of us please... what are recao leaves?? ajies dulces? the 3-4 green peppers? sweet green bell peppers?

Sorry dreamzpainter....

Recao leaves:
culantro = culentro = recao = spirit weed = long coriander = false coriander = Mexican coriander Latin: Eryngium foetidum Notes: This herb is popular throughout the Caribbean. It's similar to cilantro, but more bitter. Substitutes: cilantro (not as bitter)

taken from:
http://www.foodsubs.com/HerbsHisp.html

Ajies dulces also known as cachucha peppers, sweet peppers
Picture:
http://www.foodsubs.com/Peppersw.html

3-4 green peppers meaning sweet green bell peppers

Again, sorry for not being clear. Sometimes when you know what things are, you forget that not everyone else knows what you are talking about! Thanks for brining this to my attention!

ahhhhhhhh cubanelles!! and you use both cilantro and mexican cilantro?

Mammascookin, I can taste it all now! I'll be making your sofrito and freezing what I don't use immediately as you suggested. I've used store bought in my rice and beans but just couldn't get the taste I was looking for. When I lived in Puerto Rico all those years ago my neighbor ladies added ground smoked ham to their sofrito and "fried" the mixture in lard. Almost every morning I could smell their sofrito cooking in preparation for use in the evening meal. My mouth still waters at the thought! Thanks for the recipe and bringing back nice memories.

Dreamzpainter - culantro and cilantro are different. One is more bitter than the other. One (culantro) has a more jagged edge to it. If you cannot find it, you can use cilantro although the flavor might be a bit different...more to the strong cilantro flavor. Should still be good though!

Bonzmoose - I am happy to have been of assistance! Happy cooking!

quote:

Originally posted by mammascookin

Sorry dreamzpainter....

Recao leaves:
culantro = culentro = recao = spirit weed = long coriander = false coriander = Mexican coriander Latin: Eryngium foetidum Notes: This herb is popular throughout the Caribbean. It's similar to cilantro, but more bitter. Substitutes: cilantro (not as bitter)

taken from:
http://www.foodsubs.com/HerbsHisp.html

Ajies dulces also known as cachucha peppers, sweet peppers
Picture:
http://www.foodsubs.com/Peppersw.html

3-4 green peppers meaning sweet green bell peppers

Again, sorry for not being clear. Sometimes when you know what things are, you forget that not everyone else knows what you are talking about! Thanks for brining this to my attention!

In southeast asian cooking, long leaf coriander is sawtooth. Is that what recao is? It has quite a jagged edge bordering the long leaves. The translation is often false coriander. I love it! It's citrusy and has a pleasant sharp edge. I've never considered it bitter, though.

zataar - Yes these seem to be close. I don't know about the citrusy flavor...could be taste perception though. They are good though. This is what gives the sofrito a stronger flavor...