The sofrito, step by step

Preparation

1. The first step is to wash, peel and cut the vegetables. Peel the onion and remove the first layer if it is deteriorated or you touch it and it seems corked. We cut it in half. On a board and with a smooth sharp knife, without teeth, we can cut it well in juliana, that is to say into fine vertical strips, or chopped, for which we have to start cutting like the juliana and then make transversal cuts so that cubes come out of onion. What you do have to take into account when cutting the vegetables is that all the pieces have more or less the same size so that they cook equally.

2. We remove the skin from the tomato with a sharp knife. If we break it into segments we can more easily remove the seeds. Once split, we chop it evenly like the onion.

3. It is necessary to remove the stem and the seeds that are inside the peppers, as well as the white skins that they have on the walls, especially the red ones. Once split, we can cut them into thin slices, into thin strips or chop them. It is a matter of observing the rest of the cuts and the effect that we want to achieve in the recipe. If we do not want the vegetables to be noticed, the ideal is to chop everything. If we want the vegetables to have a presence, it is better to cut the vegetables a little thicker and into strips.

4. The carrot must be scraped with the potato peeler or the knife and remove the ends. Cut it well into thin slices or finely chopped.

5. The garlic cloves in the sauce are added whole and with the skin on, normally in powerful stews such as fabada or meat dishes. In dishes like paella or fish in sauce, it is better to peel and chop them. Open them in half and remove the central stem, it is a trick to avoid a repeat.

6. To start cooking the vegetables, heat a saucepan with enough oil to cover the surface. When it is hot we begin by adding the onion and a pinch of salt, so that it releases the juice. When it has been on the fire for a few minutes and we see that it has lost its water and is beginning to lose its bright white colour, we add the peppers, which are tougher than the other vegetables and take longer to cook, just like the onion. After several minutes we added the garlic and carrot. We continue sautéing until we verify that the vegetables are tender. Finally, we add the tomato, which thanks to its large amount of water will allow the vegetables to finish cooking and melt, creating a kind of thick sauce. We rectify salt.

7. Spices such as herbs, paprika, pepper or cumin can be added to a sauce, depending on our taste and the recipe that we are going to prepare.