Saturday, July 31, 2010

Sofrito

A quick visit to the Farmer's Market this morning yielded beautiful sweet peppers (the large Cubannelles and the small ones that remind me of our ají dulce), flawless cilantro and tomatillos, which added to onions and garlic made for wonderfully aromatic sofrito.

There are many recipes for sofrito, a base we use in cooking almost anything, but especially beans and arroz guisado. My maternal grandmother was famous for her sofrito and while I have to do without recao* and ají dulce, I make do with other local ingredients (like cilantro and tomatillos) and the result is not as authentic but just as good for my purposes.

(*I just found a website that claims they will send you recao seeds so I might just try that...)

Oh, how do I love summer and all its cooking possibilities!

1 comment:

Boricua en la Luna said...

P.S. I found a place online that sells the Badia Sazón with Culantro and Achiote, which makes my beans glorious-tasting. We'll see how that works out. http://cubanfoodmarket.com/