 MOLIENDO Y COMIENDO DEPT.
Making
Puerto Rican Sofrito in Florida
 ose Puras grows sofrito ingredients in his
backyard, (culantro leaves, aji dulce, etc.) and has fresh sofrito all
year long. He also has a website where he sells the seeds for almost
nothing... He just loves the stuff. made with FRESH Culantro (Recao), and Ajies Dulces grown in
his backyard.
"Here at home, we make sofrito twice a year, when the Culantro and Ajies
are at their prime and pour it in Ice Cube trays, freeze it, and store
the cubes in Zip Lock bags in the freezer. We have fresh sofrito the
whole year ! Although you can use the standard sofrito with just about
anything you cook, there are small variations to bring out that "sabor"
in our typical culinary creations" —Puras sez.
For the sofrito used to make arroz con gandules, there is
diced "tocino" added to the sofrito which consists of aji dulce,
culantro, onions, fresh garlic, achiote, jamon de cocinar, and fresh
oregano.
  Basic Sofrito Recipe:
3- large green peppers
5- medium size head of garlic
4- large onions
1- bunch of cilantro
1/2- vegetable oil
Add
these items from your own "hortaliza"...
50- recao leaves
20- ajies dulce (small sweet cooking peppers)
Place
all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and chop coarsely.
Add in the water a small amount at a time. Pour this mixture into
icecube trays and freeze. Anytime you are going to cook some asopao,
habichuelas, arroz con gandules, or your own carne guizada, just throw
in 1-2 cubes of Sofrito. Add this mixture (to taste) to bean dishes,
stews, soups, and anything else you want to spice up.
A variation for arroz con gandules is adding chopped "salt pork"
(tocino) and jamon de cocinar (smoked ham) (especially the cueros
(skins) from the jamón), and covering the whole caldero (pot) with
banana leaves. (You can't beat the flavor)
In order to skin the garlic cloves easily,
separate all
cloves and place in warm water
overnight or longer and the skins will
come right off.
Culantro leaves and other ingredients
are ready to go into the food
processor
After the food processor, then you add oil
and go into the osterizer for
a fine grind
...and then into the icecube trays. Voilá!
Ready to go in the freezer!
Jose Puras' website is
www.caribbeanseeds.com
He's definitely worth checking out!
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