Sofrito
The base of a great many Spanish dishes — paella, stews, fish in sauce. It is onion, pepper and tomato stewed in olive oil until they become a dark, sweet jam. There are no shortcuts: the onion needs 45 minutes to caramelise and the tomatoes another hour to cook off their water. Finished sofrito is recognised when the oil starts to separate at the edges. Made ahead, it saves hours later.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Onion and pepper 45 min
- Tomatoes 75 min
- Jarring 20 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneChop the onion very finely
Chop the onion by knife into 3 mm dice — not in a processor, which crushes it and releases juice. Crushed onion stews in its own liquid for a long time before it starts to caramelise, and the sofrito easily comes out pale.
Ingredients: 800 g onions · 2 pcs green peppers · 8 cloves garlic · 200 ml olive oil
Stew onion and pepper 45 minutes
Heat the oil in a wide pan and stew the onion and pepper 45 minutes over low heat, stirring every few minutes, until soft, golden and sweet. Add the garlic after 20 minutes. Do not turn up the heat — the onion will scorch instead of caramelising.
Ingredients: 800 g onions · 2 pcs green peppers · 8 cloves garlic · 200 ml olive oil
Forty-five minutes in oil — sweetness comes slowly.Grate the tomatoes
Halve the tomatoes and grate them on a coarse grater, cut side against the teeth, until only the skin is left in your hand. The Spanish way — faster than scalding and peeling.
Ingredients: 1500 g tomatoes · 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt
Grated cut side down — the skin stays in your hand.Add the smoked paprika off the heat
Take the pan off the heat for a moment and stir the smoked paprika into the hot oil. Tipped into a hot pan over the flame it burns in seconds and turns bitter. Add the tomatoes at once.
Ingredients: 1500 g tomatoes · 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt
Reduce the tomatoes an hour
Add the grated tomatoes, bay and salt and cook 60–75 minutes over low heat, stirring more often towards the end. The mass reduces by two-thirds and darkens to brick red.
Ingredients: 1500 g tomatoes · 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt
Look for oil at the edges
The sofrito is ready when the oil starts to seep out and separate at the edges, and a spoon drawn across the base leaves a clean line. The water has gone, leaving concentrated sugars and fat.
Ingredients: 1500 g tomatoes · 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt
Oil at the edges and a clean spoon line — done.Season and remove the bay
Taste and salt. If the tomatoes were sour, add a teaspoon of sugar. Remove the bay leaves. Sofrito should be sweet, deep and faintly smoky — good enough on bread by itself.
Ingredients: 1500 g tomatoes · 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt
Jar it under oil
Spoon the hot sofrito into sterilised jars, cover the top with 1 cm of oil, seal and cool. The oil keeps out the air. Store in the fridge and level the oil after every use.
Ingredients: 60 ml olive oil
Before you start
Two spoons instead of an hour
Two or three spoons of sofrito at the start of a paella, chickpea stew or fish in sauce replace an hour of stewing onion. Which is why many Spanish households make it ahead in tomato season.
Sofrito, soffritto, sofregit
Italian soffritto is onion, carrot and celery fried briefly and gently. Catalan sofregit is usually onion and tomato, stewed even longer. Latin American sofrito is often green and herby. All different things.
A week chilled, six months frozen
Under oil it keeps a week in the fridge — these are vegetables and garlic in oil, so do not keep it that way any longer. To store it, freeze it in an ice-cube tray: it keeps six months, and one cube is one portion for a dish for four.