Charisma In Bklyn: cooking

Saturday, November 17, 2012

How to Make Sofrito

I grew up watching my grandma mix aromatic ingredients including garlic, peppers, onions and other ingredients to make this yummy cooking base. We don't use store bought sofrito in our house. Sofrito is used when making rice, soups, beans, meats and other dishes. Below is my own recipe I use to make sofrito. These ingredients are just enough to make a small container. You can easily double or triple the ingredients to make more. Sofrito should be refrigerated if used within a week. If you plan on using it later, place container in the freezer.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 red pepper, cut into small chunks
2 green peppers, cut into small chunks
1 large onion (red or spanish), chopped
1 head of garlic, peeled
a large handful of cilantro or parsley

Put all ingredients in a blender and mix until it forms a creamy paste. It should look like this:

Below are some tasty recipes for Puerto Rican dishes using sofrito. Enjoy!

Arroz con gandules (Rice and pigeon peas)

Habichuelas Guisada (Beans)

Carne Guisada (Beef Stew)

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Pinterest food for thought

Cooking is a form of art. It gives you a chance to get creative in the kitchen. If you're not a natural, you can turn to recipes and go from there. If you do have a knack for cooking, improvise with what you have in the kitchen and see what happens. Check out my Pinterest board labeled Yummy in my tummy. It has great recipes. I have tried the following recipes with great success: