Sofrito

Apparently everyone else in the world knew that there's this amazing stuff, sofrito, that you use in cooking beans, rice, meat, vegetables, ANYTHING, and it makes it eight thousand times better. How embarrassing. No worries, though because now I have two recipes and a jar of it in my fridge that a coworker made me. Phew!

Two co-workers, one Puerto Rican (Carmen), one 1/2 Dominican (Jamie), each gave me the recipes they swear by (and always have on hand) plus recipes for their signature sofrito dishes. I'm never looking back.

Carmen's Sofrito

20 pieces or more of garlic
2 bell peppers (red or green, depending on what resulting color you want)
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch recao (also known as culantro, or Mexican coriander)
2 onions
a little water
10-20 ajices (small round sweet peppers, usually green or orange)

Clean, de-seed, and chop everything into similar-sized pieces. Throw everything in the food processor and add water, a tablespoon or so at a time, until the sofrito looks homogeneous and just a little watery.

Carmen's Spanish Rice

little oil
1 bullion cube
1 small can GOYA tomato sauce
+ water for rice (1:1 ratio)
+ couple spoons of Sofrito
rice

In large sauce pan or saute pan, warm a glug (ya know, a pour out of the bottle) of olive oil, and break bullion cube into it. Add tomato sauce and water.* Bring water to a boil, then add rice. Cover and cook until rice is tender.

*Carmen instructed: "If cooking 4 cups of rice, then use 4 cups of water." Firstly, I don't know what sort of army she's feeding but there's no way I'd ever need that much rice. Secondly, I have not yet made this and don't know if that ratio actually works well, especially with the recipe scaled back. Will have to make this soon!

Jamie's Sofrito
This is the one I have in my fridge

1 clove garlic (peeled and chopped)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper chopped
3/4 cup of water
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbs oregano
1 tbs black pepper
2 tbs. Goya recaito

Blend all together and freeze extra.

Jamie's Beans with Sofrito

Use red or pink with 1/2 can tomato sauce and 2 tbs. of sofrito

OR

For hearty beans:
3/4 cup of water
1 potato (chopped)

Boil potatoes until tender.

1 tbs. of oil
beans
1/2 can tomato sauce (Goya's small can)
2 tbs. of sofrito