Sofrito
Sofrito is a delicious flavoring substance that is classic in Puerto Rican cooking. You add it to anything from rice and beans, to soups and slow cooker dishes, to omlettes, to sauces for meat dishes. Once made, sofrito freezes really well in ice cube trays or other portion-sized containers for winter! It will also keep well in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks.
1 onion
1 green pepper
2-3 cloves garlic
1 bunch cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp oregano (more if fresh)
2-4 tbs olive oil
salt to taste
1 tsp capers (opt.)
1-3 hot peppers (opt.)
1-2 roasted red peppers (opt.)
a few to a bunch of pitted olives (opt.)
Other optionals: black pepper, cayenne, paste tomatoes, cumin, culantro, annatto, celery, parsley, and many more!
No hard and fast recipe here! Something to play with! Multiply recipe for winter freezing. Wash, deseed, trim as needed. Chop into large chunks. Put all in blender, in batches if need be. I like to blend not as far as puree, but stop while there are still little bits of things, like tiny pieces of pepper and onion, discernible shards of herbs.
Mix everything in a bowl at the end if you did batches. Then refrigerate and freeze for later use. Or use some now!
To use, put some in a pan with oil and saute to meld the flavors before adding rice to boil or whatever it’s in your plans to make.
Lovely with red peppers too!
Curried Carrot Dip
7 medium carrots (about 1 pound), cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger powder (or tsps of freshly grated ginger)
3/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the carrots with the turmeric, curry powder, salt, cayenne and oil. Toss to coat the carrots with the oil and spice mixture. Spread the carrots on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast for 30 minutes, until very tender and brown.
Put the roasted carrots in a food processor with the jalapeno, garlic, and ginger and puree. Add the yogurt and cilantro and process another few seconds until smooth and creamy. If the spread seems too thick add water 1 tablespoon at a time until you achieve the desired consistency. Taste, and add salt if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature with flatbread or crackers.
Makes about 2 cups
Cilantro Scallion Chutney
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch scallions
1 Tbs. lime juice
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ cup coconut
1 hot pepper or hot pepper flakes to taste.
Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. This goes great with Indian food or as a substitute for salsa with chips.
Fresh Tomato-Corn Salsa
From the contributor, CSA member Anna: “Thanks for the wonderful veggies that are coming in so far. I’m enjoying them very much. I wanted to share two recipes that I recently tried and love. I hope others will try and enjoy eating them as well.”
3 tomatoes, chopped
3 ears corn
1 onion, chopped
1 pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 hot pepper, minced, or 1 tsp cayenne pepper
1⁄4 cup lemon juice or vinegar
2 Tbs. olive oil
Salt to taste
3 Tbs. cilantro
Chop tomatoes, salt and let sit in a colander for 30 min. to drain off extra juice. In the meantime, cut kernels from corn (yep, it’s delicious raw) and mix in the rest of the ingredients, adding the drained tomatoes last and salting to taste.
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde
This salsa is awesome! Sweet and tangy.
lb tomatillos (remove husks and cut in half)
3-6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice, fresh is sweeter
1/4 cup diced sweet onion
1-3 diced jalapeno
chopped fresh cilantro, up to one bunch
1 tbsp maple syrup, or to taste
salt to taste
water, to desired consistency
for an extra twist add halved husk/ground cherries at the end
Roast tomatillos cut side down in a thick skillet until they soften most of the way through, and brown/blacken on the bottom. Then flip to cook the rounded side. You can snuggle the garlic cloves in there, cut in half, to roast at the same time. It’s okay if things blacken a little. You can also roast your jalapeno if you like.
Blend roasted tomatillos, garlic, olive oil, and lime juice. Add a little water if you want a wetter salsa or your blender needs help. Add onion, cilantro, jalapeno and a little salt. Blend for a second to mix. Taste, add maple syrup if desired, more salt if needed, same with lime juice, and then husk cherries at the end if you want them. Serve with corn chips or burritos or on enchiladas etc.
Tip: if you want to make a big batch, you can roast everything in the oven instead.
Ratatouille Outside the Box
From Red Fire Farm Chef Kristen Schafenacker, 2007
Yes! A recipe from your share that is so good it fools the most finicky kid into eating vegetables.
1 large eggplant, or 3 Asian eggplant, cut into 1 inch x ¼ in pieces (if using Italian eggplant, peel first)
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 bell peppers, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1 summer squash, diced
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
¾ cup chopped cilantro
1 t. cumin
½ t. cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
avocado and lime slices
Saute eggplant in wok or skillet on high heat in all but 2 T vegetable oil (10 minutes). When browned, set aside on a paper towel. Add pepper and onions to wok and remaining olive oil if necessary. Cook until caramelized (10 minutes).
Add vinegar, summer squash, tomatoes, and spices and cook until a thick sauce forms (10 minutes). Serve with avocado and lime wedges.
Roasted Turnips with Peanut Cilantro Sauce
From Sarah Voiland, 2010
Roasted turnips are good in and of themselves. Here’s a way to make them irresistible. I also think they are very good used like roasted beets in a salad with greens and feta cheese.
Chunks of any type of turnip or rutabaga
Olive oil to coat
Salt and pepper
Clean and top turnips, remove thicker skin areas, and chop into similar sized chunks. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread out on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 375 or 400 until soft to the tines of a fork, and starting to brown a little. While baking you can make up a container of the cilantro peanut sauce below and use it for dipping the roasted chunks or as a sauce poured over them.
Cilantro Peanut Sauce
This sauce is great on udon noodles, tofu, roasted turnips, fries, almost anything.
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey (or other sweetener)
3 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs cider or rice vinegar (or other light vinegar)
2 tbs lemon or lime juice
2-4 tbs olive oil
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 tbs sesame oil (optional)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced (optional) – or green garlic
1 tbs minced fresh ginger (optional, or a little ginger powder)
a little of your favorite spicing agent (cayenne powder, chili flakes)
Mix everything together. You can mix it in a pouring container or the container you’ll store leftovers in later. Add a little water to get desired consistency. Salt to taste.
When I do this I just stick some of each thing in and stir and taste it and then add more of things as needed, so if you want it more peanut buttery, you can add more, etc.
Radicchio Slaw
1 head radicchio, cored and coarsely chopped or shredded
½ head cabbage
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup thinly sliced cucumber
1 cup minced fresh cilantro (optional)
¼ cup sliced green onion
4 tablespoons roasted salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Dressing:
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 crushed garlic clove or garlic scapes
1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
Place radicchio, cabbage, carrot, cucumber and cilantro in large bowl. In a small bowl stir together dressing ingredients until well blended; pour over vegetables and toss thoroughly.
Place slaw in serving bowl and garnish.
Curried Carrot Dip
From Anna, a member of the CSA. Anna says: “Thanks for the wonderful veggies that are coming in so far. I’m enjoying them very much. I wanted to share two recipes that I recently tried and love. I hope others will try and enjoy eating them as well.”
7 medium carrots (about 1 pound), cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger powder (or tsps of freshly grated ginger)
3/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the carrots with the turmeric, curry powder, salt, cayenne and oil. Toss to coat the carrots with the oil and spice mixture. Spread the carrots on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast for 30 minutes, until very tender and brown.
Put the roasted carrots in a food processor with the jalapeno, garlic, and ginger and puree. Add the yogurt and cilantro and process another few seconds until smooth and creamy. If the spread seems too thick add water 1 tablespoon at a time until you achieve the desired consistency. Taste, and add salt if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature with flatbread or crackers.
Makes about 2 cups
Husk Cherry and Cherry Tomato Salsa
These two star ingredients are often available together in our Pick Your Own fields, so here’s a recipe that shows them off together! You can also add halved husk cherries (aka ground cherries) to your favorite salsa recipe. Thank you to one of our members, Linda, for suggesting this.
2 cups of ripe husk cherries (aka ground cherries) with paper husks removed, chopped in half
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved (or 1-3 regular tomatoes diced)
½ to 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, and diced super small
½ cup diced red onion (can be any type of onion)
chopped leaves from 1 bunch cilantro
1 small clove garlic minced
2-6 tsp lime juice, fresh is nice
½ t salt, or to taste
Ground pepper to taste
Drain tomatoes for a bit if you want a less juicy salsa. Otherwise mix all ingredients in a bowl and tweak flavors as desired. You can hold back on some of the jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper and lime and mix them in to your preference.
Serve fresh with your favorite chips!
Makes about 4 cups. Adapted from a recipe on StraightFromTheFarm.net.
