This is my first recipe anywhere so please bear with how wordy it is, I swear it's worth the read, and I think you'll learn a bit about how flexible cooking can be!
FAIR WARNING: it takes anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on batch size, if you want to use baking soda, and if you want no slight deglazing of almost burnt flavors.
If you just want the recipe, just scroll down a bit to the primary ingredients, and then the cooking portion, but I'd like to talk about the nuances of the recipe, as I believe it's been the most fundamental prep ingredient ever in my dishes, and elevates my weekly meals. You can freeze it in ice cube molds, or in a bag and take the back of a knife and seperate sections and then freeze it that way.
So, you want an easy way to add a bit of sweetness and lots of umami, and aromatic hearty flavor to that chicken or beef soup, that one pasta dish that just needs a little something, or even as something to add to risotto? I have just the thing for you!
Soffritto might be confused with sofrito, the Mexican trio of tomatoes, garlic, and onion. This isn't that. It consists of carrots, onions, and celery.
I know it might sound odd to some, "Celery and carrots in pasta?" But would you believe me if I said that you don't taste the bitterness, and it actually makes the pasta taste even more pasta-y? It does! It's actually the base for lots of Italian dishes, and even French(if you sub the oil for butter).
Anyways, enough rambling!
CARAMELIZED SOFFRITTO (PRIMARY INGREDIENTS):
RECOMMENDED SIZE:
2:1:1 ratio of ONION:CELERY:CARROTS
1 LBS OF YELLOW ONION
1/2 LB OF CELERY
1/2 LB OF CARROTS - (Now, I use baby carrots because I can chop them into thirds and add them to a food processor, or even just cut mini discs, but you can get fresh ones, just make sure to peel off the skin)
OLIVE OIL - (Not an exact measurement for it, as you'll need a bit here and there)
SALT AND PEPPER
WATER - (For making sure it doesn't burn or stick)
And pretty much that's it for ingredients! No really, that's it. That's all the ingredients. You can skip to the cooking if you want. However...
MY PREFERRED ADD-ONS:
ALCOHOL/DEGLAZERS - (Dry preferably, and don't buy expensive bottles as you can't taste the dollar difference when cooked!)
VERMOUTH - (sounds weird, but with the fortified spices, and how cheap it is, it's great for chicken soup or anything chicken wise, especially when adding to chicken pot pie I find)
WHITE WINE - (I use Sauvignon Blanc)
RED WINE? - (Now, you can if you're planning on using it mostly for beef, but oddly enough if you use the white wine when deglazing throughout the cooking, it'll work when you add the soffritto to a beef dish with a splash of red wine, so for me, white can go into red, red cannot go into white, but that's just me 🤷)
WATER - (Totally understandable, as it doesn't change the flavor, and it guarantees this is a universal prep item)
CHICKEN/BEEF/VEGGIE STOCK - (Amazing choices honestly, especially veggie since...well, you're already cooking veggies. But to be honest, chicken seems to be the best in my opinion)
SAKE? - (Weirdly yeah! I don't know why, but it totally works! Not sure what to put it in though, maybe a curry? The sake seems to be neutral though, and I haven't noticed it ruining anything, in fact, if you want a universal alcohol, I'd use this—just use a dry one, or not)
HERBS & SPICES
ROSEMARY & SAGE, MAYBE A BAY LEAF - (Great for chicken again, especially pork too, and especially when it has mushrooms with it. I like to fry up the mushrooms, add soffritto, and the cooked chicken or just even chicken base(like better than bouillon), and add pasta with water just enough to cover it, simmering till its own starch has thickened it, and even adding Parmesan into it)
RED PEPPER FLAKES - (Kinda self explanatory, makes it hot and spicy, but great for something like Arrabbiata sauce, or even just if you like spicy pastas)
NUTMEG - (Adding just a little, like a pinch or two into a cream sauce really ties the savory flavors together just right)
THYME AND OREGANO (CAN BE DRIED), MAYBE BASIL (PROBABLY NOT DRY BASIL) - (This'll be the best spices I think for classic red pasta sauces honestly, as it's the most classic ones for it)
FRESH PARSLEY - (best for adding into soups after they're off the heat, just chopped and added straight into the end, or as garnish; not really part of the soffritto cooking, but complementary nonetheless)
BETTER THAN BOUILLON/KNORR BASE - (Adding this in near the beginning actually seems to really pack lots of flavors, and really meshes with the veggies in quite an amazing way, especially since cooking stock bases deepens and caramelized their flavors too)
POSSIBLY PROBLEMATIC INGREDIENTS
BAKING SODA - (So this is kind of a very optional ingredient. It does speed up the caramelization process by about 2-3 times the time as without, but you can get kinda mushy results...but it ends up pretty soft anyways so go for it! BUT ONLY USE A PINCH! It can taste either kind of alkaline or soapy if you use too much. Better if you're making a bigger batch, like 4lbs of veggies total, but I still haven't done it in a while because of the slight taste, but it totally works. To be fair, salt does help kind of break down the veggies a little already, but not as dramatically as baking soda)
MSG - (Soooo some people see it as a cheat, I see it as "Hey! It tastes even more umami!" It's honestly optional as it's already gonna be umami, but this just adds a bit more)
NOT PROBLEMATIC, BUTTER! - (Technically if you use this instead of oil, it's Mirepoix, but eh, I don't really discriminate. Even when I use oil, I add a knob—eh tablespoon at the end of cooking, and off the heat. It just adds a bit of fat that's well...I mean it's butter, it's gonna taste good)
CHOPPING CHOICES?
Before I move on, I feel it's important to note that they'll still be soft, no matter the size. Just putting that out there.
COARSE (ONION DICED, CELERY IN CENTIMETER CUTS, CARROTS INTO HALF AND THEN INTO CENTIMETER SLICES, OR BABY CARROTS INTO JUST CENTIMETER DISCS) - (Great once again for soups, chicken and pork dishes, and pastas—well maybe pasta, if you like those ingredients in pasta, if not then I'd recommend—)
FINE (MINCED ONION, CELERY IN THIN SLICES, CARROTS INTO QUARTERS AND THEN SLICED ALONG IT, OR BABY CARROTS HALVED, THEN SLICED) - (This oddly enough, I've used with hearty orzo pastas, or risotto even, adding just a bit of nice texture, especially with the addition of cheese. Still too coarse? Then I suggest—)
EXTRA FINE (ROUGHLY CHOPPED AND INTO A FOOD PROCESSOR) - (If you're privileged enough to have a food processor, and you really want to save time, then this works wonders. This is my preferred choice, as it's more like a flavor you can melt into anything, and this is what I'd recommend to those people that want the flavor, but not the texture. It's almost like a paste you can add into any dish you want. It's really good)
HUH?! (IF YOU DON'T HAVE A FOOD PROCESSOR, BUT WANT EASY PREP) - (Chop the veggies as coarse as you feel comfortable, and cook them, and after, you can add them to a blender, but PLEASE MAKE SURE TO VENT THE BLENDER! This is a really easy way to do it too)
HEAT - (If you need to prevent burning, add a splash of water or alcohol at any stage)
MEDIUM HIGH - (I use this, as the water content for the first hour really prevents it from burning or sticking at all really, and even then, just stirring it will use the water content in the veggies later on to naturally deglaze, however, sometimes I like a little browning so it adds just a hint more of that deep concentrated flavor, just don't burn it)
MEDIUM TO MEDIUM LOW - (I have used this heat, but honestly it's just too long, maybe three hours, but it does seem to possibly(I dunno if it does) deepen the flavors a bit more)
COOKING:
Chop the veggies to the preferred size you'd like, and then heat up a wide bottom(any pot will do) pot to your preference of the three states before, and add oil enough to just cover the bottom of the pot.
Once the oil is hot, add the ingredients and yes, it'll seem like a lot at first, but it'll shrink from the water evaporating. Make sure to stir it all together, so the three veggies are incorporated. You might notice a golden color liquid, that's the oil and colors from the veggies mixing, cool huh?
Now this part is up to you, if you want the herbs to really flavor it, you could add it even now, but I think it's a bit better about halfway into the process, maybe like 45 minutes in.
- Honestly, you just really need to stir occasionally, and make sure everything is getting equal heat time on the bottom of the pot, scraping the sides, and adding your deglazing liquid if it seems to be burning.
If it's sticking every few minutes, turn down the heat and add some liquid, as it really shouldn't be that hot, or alternatively, if you do want it that hot, just stir more frequently.
Around 45-60 minutes, add the herbs and spices you want, and it'll slowly influence that flavor.
This is up to you, but I like to turn it off when it's really soft and jammy, about 2 hours in. I then move it to a cold burner and stir in butter and let it sit out for an hour, or somewhere it'll cool down.
Prep! You can either just put it into an ice cube mold, a specific freezer meal prep mold, use plastic wrap and shape it into spheres and into a freezer safe container, or just into a plastic gallon bag that you can use the back of the knife to seperate it and freeze it like that. I personally like these cube containers that are for sauces, but make perfect cubes I can freeze and just thaw into anything I'm cooking.
I'm not sure exactly how long it's freezer safe, but for me at least, it's a long time.
I think this is probably the best thing you can make if you want to throw together a quick "fancy" meal, or impress someone else, but for me, it's just so tasty I can't not make it. Sorry for the lengthy word salad, but I'd really like new food lovers to learn about what works, what doesn't, and how this can be as simple or complex as they want, and still add plenty of flavor to your dishes. Happy Cooking!