As we continued on our travels to Barcelona, I became obsessed with the Spanish Sofrito sauce. It was offered at many of our meals and was the primary feature of my favorite breakfast in Spain: rustic bread, sweet ham, nutty, herbed manchego cheese and earthy olives…with plenty of Sofrito {drizzled with some extra olive oil} for dipping and pouring.
The best way to describe how the Spanish use sofrito, is to compare it to how many Americans use ketchup {but this tastes 100x fresher and better}. It is often placed on the table to spice up eggs, meats, fish, rice and vegetable. It can be slathered on bread and then topped with meats and cheeses. It adds a fresh, flavorful taste to anything.
In searching for recipes I found this from a piece on Spanish foods. I modified the recipe a bit {I used fresh tomatoes and added some ingredients to make it more flavorful}. While I used the best tomatoes I could find, flavorwise, they were nowhere close to those we had in Spain.
This sauce is easy to make and keeps in the refrigerator for days, although I think it tastes best when served at room temperature.
Sofrito Splendide
Ingredients
3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes {choose the ripest, heaviest tomatoes you can find}
1 Anaheim green pepper {cored, seeds removed}
1 red onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon sea salt {+ a few pinches}
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
up to a cup of olive oil
Procedure
Cover the bottom of a saute pan with olive oil. Add onions and saute over medium heat until just transparent.
Add the chopped tomatoes and pepper, sprinkle with the teaspoon of salt. Add 1/3 of the chopped garlic.
Cook the mixture over medium heat until the tomatoes are soft. Add the rest of the garlic, the sherry vinegar and 1/4 cup of olive oil to the mix and allow it to cool slightly.
When the mix has dropped in temperature use a hand held blender to blend the mix until it is smooth. Add more olive oil, sherry vinegar and/ or salt to taste.
Buen Provecho!
