Sofrito is the aromatic vegetable base of a huge number of Italian dishes – a mixture of finely diced onions, celery and carrots. The ratio of components can be varied, something can be added to them, but these three remain unchanged. A huge number of Italian dishes begin with sofrito being prepared and fried, and only then the main ingredients are added. In France, such a preparation is called Mirpois.
Be sure to cut everything into a small cube of 3 mm. Otherwise, you will feel chunks of vegetables in your stew, which is not very good, because at the end of the stew should be something like a sauce, more or less homogeneous. Here is an example of a carrot.
Here I advise you to use a ruler, because, as practice shows, not everyone remembers what three millimeters are.
In a spacious frying pan, heat for the type of oil: butter (about 20 g) and olive (about 20 g). The idea is that we get a rich, double flavor. And besides, olive oil does not allow butter to burn at high temperatures.
Heat up and add the onion (I have red, sweet), carrots and celery.
Fry so that the vegetables become softer, the onion becomes transparent and excess juice evaporates. But we do not bring it to a golden color, as we used to do it in Russia.
Remove from stove and set vegetables aside.
Meat
- Minced beef – 200 g
- Minced pork – 200 g
- Smoked brisket – 100 g
- Nutmeg – 3 g
Next, we prepare the meat component. There are two types of minced meat, this is a classic. Together they give a juicy and correct texture, the taste also becomes more multifaceted. Often pancetta or bacon is used at this stage. But I like the brisket more, its smoky flavor adds an interesting taste to the mixture.
We do everything almost at maximum heat.
In a frying pan, fry the brisket until light brown. Here you can see for yourself whether to add oil. It all depends on the fat content of the product and the coating of the pan.
Then we flatten both types of minced meat and fry. Don’t touch it right away. Let it cook well on one side for 2-4 minutes.
Then, with a good wooden spatula , stir and break up the pieces of minced meat.
We fry well.
Pieces with a crust should appear, not burnt, but golden.
Here’s a bigger one. This crust is the result of caramelization and it gives flavor.
At the end, add nutmeg (3 g).
Mix well and fry for a couple more minutes.
tomatoes
- Wine — 100-250 years
- Mutti tomato paste – 100 g
- Peeled tomatoes – 350 g
Next comes the tomato ingredient. Red or white wine is often used here. Exactly the same as you will drink yourself. That is, the idea of \u200b\u200bcheap wines does not work for the sauce, then you will quickly regret it. I used pink. I like the sourness that remains after wine in sauces. It’s not for nothing that all Italians do it with pasta) The alcohol will evaporate, don’t worry about the children and drivers.
Wine comes first. It is still needed for deglazing, that is, everything that is burnt to the walls of the pan will go away and become part of the sauce.
When the wine has evaporated, add tomato paste (100 g). I love a lot. I like the rich taste, bright color and “tomato”.
Mix the paste well. You can add some more wine.
At the very end are tomatoes peeled in their own juice (the whole jar).
Also fry until moisture is lost.
Fragrances
- Bay leaf – 3-7 pieces
- Rosemary – 2 sprigs
- Allspice – 5 g
- Garlic – 3-4 cloves
- Broth – 300 g
It remains the stage of aromatization and final preparation. You can take herbs at your discretion, other pairs will do here. But I really like fresh bay leaves and fresh rosemary. We also use broth. I have a vegetable. You can take meat or replace with water (the taste will be slightly weaker).
Allspice (5 g) take peas and roughly chop it with a knife. Just crush the garlic with the wide part of the knife.
Look, this is the state after the tomatoes have been added. The juice has almost evaporated.
Next, pour in the broth (300 g). And we add all our flavors. Mix carefully. I remove the garlic, leaves and rosemary at the end.
Then we add our vegetables.
And cook it on the slowest fire. It is necessary to make sure that light steam comes out of the pan, but there are not even bubbles.
Stir and cook for about 2-3 hours. Some at the end add 100 grams of milk and evaporate again. It seems silly, but milk really works well in this stew. The taste seems to become softer and smoother, creamier. But I don’t like it that way, I like pure tomato more, here it’s an amateur.
Here we cook until the liquid has evaporated, the meat and vegetables become very tender and there will be very little moisture so that the sauce remains sauce.
By the way, the sauce can be decomposed into bags and frozen. It will keep for a couple of months.
Pasta
- Pasta – 200 g
- Broth – 2000
- Salt – 20 g
The famous Italian rule “1110” says that you need to take 1 liter of water (broth), 100 grams of pasta and 10 grams of salt. Take any pasta and cook until al dente. I take Rigate – the sauce is perfectly collected in them and it turns out delicious.
When the pasta is cooked, transfer it to the pan, where there is very little sauce and meat left. Mix well, this will color the pasta and slightly saturate it with tomato flavor.
And only then serve with a generous portion of stew and grated parmesan.
Mix well and enjoy!
