INTERNATIONAL: SPAIN: Catalonian Sauces 7 - Sofrito

• Sofrito is a basic Spanish tomato sauce containing tomatoes, garlic and onions, as well as green peppers. These ingredients are sautéed in olive oil to make a mellow tomato sauce that is used as an ingredient in many dishes and can be served as a side dish with eggs or rice. It is served all over Spain and in other parts of the world which Spain settled such as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Latin America, the Yucatan part of Mexico, Caribbean, Cuba, Portugal and others areas using different names. It did not originate in Cataluña, but is eaten there.
• It can also be accompany dishes such as tortilla espanola or it may be an ingredient in a dish. If a Spanish cook is in a hurry at home, he or she may simply open a can of tomato sauce and add it to a pan of sautéed onion and garlic, rather than starting with fresh tomatoes.

NOTE:  We can also see a correlation to sofrito in the derivation of the Catalan word "sofregit," which comes from the verb sofrefir, which means to under-fry or fry lightly. The Catalan idea of frying lightly meant to fry slowly over a low flame.

LINK to Puerto Rican Sofrito Recipe

LINK for Chicken Fricassee Recipe using Sofrito Sauce

LINK to Chicken Sofrito and Yellow Rice Recipe

LINK to Sofrito Sauce Recipe with VIDEO

Other photos

INTERNATIONAL GREECE: Part 7 - The Ionian Islands: photos, recipe links and video

LINKS TO EARLIER PARTS at bottom of page

LINKS TO OTHER PARTS ABOUT GREECE AT BOTTOM OF PAGE

The seven Ionian islands lie off the western coast of the mainland between Greece and Italy and extend from far north near the Albanian border to the southern tip of the Peloponnese. The islands were ruled at various times by the Venetians, the French, and the English, and the cuisine that developed here is refined, with strong Italian as well as French influences.

Corfu, more than any other of the Ionian islands, has retained many words from the old Venetian dialect, as well as many foods, some of which seem to have been forgotten in Italy. They include stufato, a hearty winter stew of slowly cooked veal, pork, or poultry with carrots, fennel, or celery root, scented with garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, and thyme, and braised veal sofrito, an intensely flavored dish with plenty of garlic, parsley, and vinegar.

There is a sharp dichotomy, though, between this cuisine of the old nobility and that of the rural common people: I remember an aristocratic lady speaking disparagingly about hot red peppers, which are commonly used on Corfu and on Paxi, an island a few miles to the south. While the inhabitants of northern Greece got their affinity for peppers from the Ottoman Turks, who ruled them for many centuries, the people of Corfu and Paxi were probably influenced by the cooking of nearby Albania and the rest of the Balkans. Peasants adopted the peppers, which could be easily cultivated in their fertile soil, in their quest to find substitutes for the expensive spices used by the nobility. These peppers are sautéed in olive oil with garlic and wild leafy greens for a dish called tsigarelli, which is often served over polenta, one of the island's staples.

   RECIPES AND VIDEOS BELOW

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This recipe may be familiar to you as is spaghetti because besides the Greeks, the Italians (Venetians) had an influence on Ionion food.

LINK to recipe from Corfu - Pastitsada

This recipe is also used in Caribbean and Spansh cuisine.  It can be served over beef or veal. 

LINK to Recipe from Corfu - Sofrito

This meat pie recipe is served on the island of Kefalonia (aka Cephalonia), the largest of the Ionian islands.

LINK to recipe from Kefalonia - Kefallonitiki kreatopita

This recipe is from Corfu and is made with lemon juice, ginger and yeast and then fermented and refrigerated.

LINK to Tsitsibira recipe

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-10-foods-try-ionian-islands

Chicken tserepa from Kefalonia 

(cooked in a clay pot but you can use a casserole).  May have to adjust cooking time. 

LINK to Chicken Tserepa Recipe

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Lefkaditiki ladopita (means oil cake but only called that because made with olive oil; make sure you use GOOD olive oil if you make it.) From Lefkada, a smaller island. 

Link to Lefkaditiki ladopita Recipe

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LINK to Ionian sailing Gulets Greek sailing holidays 2017 VIDEO

Other posts

INTRO

http://internationalfoodblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/international-greek-series-part-1.html#. 

 GRIKOS

http://internationalfoodblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/international-greece-part-2-grikos.html#.

 CYPRUS

http://internationalfoodblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/international-greece-part-3-cyprus.html#.

GREEK ISLANDS

http://internationalfoodblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/international-greece-part-4-greek.html#.

IONIAN ISLANDS AND THE CYCLYDES

http://internationalfoodblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/international-greek-islands-4b-ionian.html#.

CHIOS (AEGEAN)

http://internationalfoodblog.blogspot.com/2017/05/international-greek-islands-4c-aegean.html#.

AEGEAN ISLANDS

http://internationalfoodblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/international-greece-part-5-greek.html#.

THE CYCLADES (IONIAN) CONTINUED

http://internationalfoodblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/international-greece-part-6-continuing.html#

 

INTERNATIONAL: Greek islands 4B - Ionian Islands and the Cyclades (with links to parts 1 -4)

LINK TO PART 1 - Introduction

LINK TO PART 2 - Grikos

LINK TO PART 3 - Cyprus

LINK TO PART 4 - Greek Islands 

Ionian islands

LINK to 10 foods to try on the Ionian Islands

LINK to About Pastitsada from the island of Corfu

LINK TO RECIPE FOR CHICKEN (Corfu Traditional Recipes:) Pastitsada

Veal Sofrito

LINK to Veal Sofrito Recipe from Corfu

Bordeto

LINK to Corfu's Bourdeto Recipe


Kefalonian Meat Pie

LINK to Kefalonian Meat Pie Recipe

LINK TO THE CYCLADES

Pasticcio

LINK TO Pasticcio Recipe

Sefoukloti

LINK to Sefoukloti recipe

Revithokeftedes

LINK to Revithokeftedes recipe

LINK to other Naxos or Cyclades recipes