SOFRITO

As I mentioned before in the Cholent post, Sofrito is another rich festive dish that is similar to cholent, however the cooking cycle is shorter than for cholent. Sofrito is a festive dish from Jerusalem Sephardic cuisine. Ingredients used in sofrito are pretty similar to cholent with few exceptions on the spices such as there are addition of turmeric, curry powder and allspice. The potatoes used in sofrito are deep-fried and then cooked with the beef in the casserole. Deep-frying retains the shape and texture of the vegetables even after long slow cooking.

In certain place in Jerusalem, sofrito is still cooked in the traditional way, on a paraffin stove. Sofrito is only served on Fridays, and most of it is taken out for weekend meals at home. This is also another rich festive dish that I’m glad I tried from The Book Of New Israeli Food by Janna Gur.

SOFRITO

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Ingredients

  

• 1 ½ lbs beef brisket cut into large chunks
• 3 Tbsp oil
• 4 small whole onions peeled
• 5 whole cloves garlic peeled
• 1 ½ cup chicken/beef stock or water
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp curry powder
• ½ tsp ground white pepper
• ¼ tsp ground all spice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 potatoes peeled and cut into uniform wedges
• Oil for deep-frying

Instructions

 

• Heat oil in a frying pan and brown the beef on all sides. Do this in batches if you need to. Overcrowding the pan will not do the browning
• Generously grease a wide, flat ovenproof saucepan with a lid and lay in the eat, onions and garlic
• Mix the stock of water with the spices, pour over the chicken and bring to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Cover and cook for one hour over low heat. If more liquid is needed, add some boiling water. Up to this point, the dish may be prepared in advance and kept in the refrigerator
• Preheat the oven to 300 F (150 C)
• Heat the oil for deep-frying and fry the potato wedges until golden. Transfer to paper towel to drain the excess oil
• Arrange the deep-fried potato wedges over the cooked beef, cover the pan and transfer to the oven for about 2 hours. Or, set overnight on an electric hotplate or in a 225 F (100 C) oven. Shake the saucepan once or twice during the cooking so the sauce covers the potatoes. The sofrito is ready when all of the pieces are tender

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