Italian soffritto

Italian soffritto is a vegetable mix prepared in Italy to create a cooking base for more complex Italian recipes, such as Bolognese sauce, Italian soups, beef stews, or even meat recipes like pork roast beef.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Course basic italian recipe

Cuisine Italian

Servings 2

Calories 347 kcal

Equipment

▢
1 wooden board
▢
1 cook knife

Ingredients

▢ 1 carrot
▢ 1 big celery stalk or two medium one
▢ 1 Gold onion
▢ 2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Wash your vegetables. Dry and peel all of them, removing all the skin.
Carrots. Remove the skin with a potato peeler, trim the ends if they're a bit dark. Using a smooth-edged knife, slice the carrots lengthwise in sticks, and then dice them into small cubes.
Repeat the process with the celery. Clean the celery by removing the strings before dicing.
Cut the onion in two, then with the knife make lengthwise cuts. Dice horizontally.
Finely chop each ingredient to roughly the same size. This ensures even cooking time.
I usually add ⅓ carrots, ⅓ onions, and ⅓ celery to start my recipes, but feel free to adjust the percentages to your preference.
Once your Italian soffritto is ready, let's get to work and start cooking!
In a large pan, add olive oil and let it warm up.
Add soffritto and keep the flame at medium. Let it cook slowly and evenly, stir with a wooden spoon occasionally. Let it brown lightly, then proceed with next steps of your recipe.

Notes

If you prefer a sweeter soffritto, add more carrots. Red onions and white onions offer the option to adjust the spiciness level according to your taste.

Cook soffritto slowly: do not brown too much the vegetables. Do not try to cut time while cooking your soffritto, it will cost you unwanted flavor and worse case scenario, to toss all your work in the garbage.
Keep the heat low-medium: the vegetables need time to cook.
Use equal amount of vegetables: especially at the beginning, until you find your true way with your soffritto.
You can add more vegetables or spices or erbs to enhance your soffritto results. If you are looking for a stronger flavor add garlic, dragonello herb, rosemary. For a sweeter taste add oregano, bay leaves.

How to store Italian soffritto

You can store your Italian soffritto in freezer-safe containers with a lid. It can be frozen for up to 5–6 months. When you need it, you can add it directly to the pan; there's no need to thaw it.

Make ahead

Soffritto can be prepared days in advance. It will stay fresh in the fridge up to 5 days when stored in a closed container. Alternatively, you can freeze it and use it directly from the freezer in your pan.

Nutrition

Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.

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