Soffritto

By Meal Times With Mathilde

Makes 3 Servings

Don’t know what to do with your onions & carrots this week? Make Soffrito! 

This is a staple of Italian cooking, used as a base for sauces, soups and stews. It is incredibly easy to make, uses common cooking ingredients and can be frozen for later use.

Recipe below makes just over 250g i.e. approx. 3 portions, but you can easily double/triple it

INGREDIENTS METHOD

INGREDIENTS

Olive or vegetable oil

1 Medium Onion

1 Medium Carrot

3 Sticks of Celery

2 Cloves of Garlic

METHOD

1. Finely dice the onion, carrot & celery

2. In a lidded pan/casserole pot, heat a large glug of oil, and fry onion first until translucent

3. Add carrots, celery & garlic, stir, cover and cook on a low heat for about 20 minutes or until completely softened

From here, you can use the soffrito straightaway or cool & freeze it for later use (re-use take-away containers to reduce plastic waste or re-usable freezer bags). Some ideas of what you could make with your soffrito:

Tomato sauce - to be used for pasta dishes, spaghetti bolognese, lasagne, minestrone soup, meat/vegetable stews

Creamy white sauce - to be used for prawn/seafood linguine, creamy gnocchi with pancetta, etc

Mathilde is a Registered Nutritionist on the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists with the Association for Nutrition (AfN) and you can find out more about her over at her website and on instagram where she regularly posts about all things food and lots of amazing recipes.