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The base of almost every Italian dish is the soffritto, the holy trinity: onion, celery, and carrots. This is not to be confused with the holy trinity in Louisiana, which includes green peppers instead of carrots. Carrots are essential in Italian cooking because they cut the acidity of the tomato without adding sugar.
In France, the same ingredients are called a mirepoix. The difference is that the ratios are stricter, and mirepoix uses butter rather than olive oil. But, it’s the same thing.
Contents
What's So Special?
If you start with this simple base, all of your Italian dishes will taste as if Nonna made them. It is simple, and if you use your freezer wisely, you can have home-cooked dishes in no time.
Ingredients and Substitutions
There are only three ingredients in soffritto. So, it is all about the ratios, but it is forgiving and can be adjusted to your preferences. I tend to use more equal parts by volume, which means more onion by weight. Meaning that 1 cup of chopped onion is 125 grams, but 1 cup of carrot or celery is 100 grams.
Traditional Ratio
2 parts onion
1 part carrot
1 part celery
I use a food chopper on the onion to get 1/4″ dice because a food processor causes the onion to liquify. But everything else goes into the food processor. This is what it looks like after it is processed.
Blending the Flavors
Add a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil to the bottom of a pan and heat it to medium-low, then add the onions, carrots, and celery. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Then add a tablespoon of butter and 3-4 cloves of minced garlic, and cook for another couple of minutes until you can smell the garlic and everything is combined.
Garlic
Time Saving Tip: Mince a head or two of garlic and store in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to keep it fresh for up to a week in the fridge. I use a mini processor, and it takes no time!
Most recipes that call for garlic, work with EVOO. For a clove, I substitute a teaspoon of garlic with most of the oil drained. This saves a lot of time with weekly dinners without sacrificing any flavor.
Time Saving Tip
Make a double batch and freeze half to use later; it keeps for months. A typical batch is about 2 cups or 300 grams after it cooks down and fits in a small freezer storage container. So, rather than freezing quarts of homemade marinara sauce, you can freeze the soffritto and keep the canned tomatoes on the shelf. It saves freezer space and makes a quick dinner.
Soffritto
The base of almost every Italian dish is the holy trinity: onion, celery, and carrots. This is not to be confused with the holy trinity in Louisiana, which includes green peppers instead of carrots. Carrots are essential in Italian cooking because they cut the acidity of the tomato without adding sugar.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
1 yellow onion, chopped finely
2 celery stalks, chopped finely
2 carrots, peeled and chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Soffritto is a combination of equal parts onion, celery, and carrot, but measuring is not required; you can eyeball it. The quantities I listed are estimates, but it depends on the size of your produce.
- Heat the olive oil in a pan over low heat, and add the butter
- Once the butter is melted, add the vegetables and stir until they are soft (5 min)
- Add the garlic and stir, cook until you smell the garlic (1-2 min)
- Done!
Notes
The hardest part of this is the chopping! I use a food chopper for the onion and a mini processor for the rest. Usually, I will make a large batch and freeze it into recipe-sized portions.
recipes with a soffritto base
