While passing through Yuma, we went out to eat at a local Latin-American restaurant and one of the dishes we ordered was served with a small bowl of sofrito on the side. It was so good! In its most basic form, sofrito is a mix of aromatics like peppers, onions, garlic, and herbs. Sometimes it’s simmered in olive oil to heighten the flavors, and sometimes it’s served raw and fresh. Many different versions can be found in Caribbean, Mediterranean, Latin American, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese cooking. You can buy sofrito in a jar in many grocery stores. We tried that but we weren’t impressed, so we decided we needed to make our own. We scoured the internet for recipes and came up with our van-friendly version using locally available ingredients.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 poblano pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
• 2 hatch chilis (or anaheim peppers), stemmed, seeded, and diced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
• 10 medium cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 medium Spanish or yellow onions, diced
• 2 ripe plum tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks
• 1 bunch cilantro, washed and roughly chopped
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a bowl or small pitcher, add the peppers and garlic and blend with an immersion blender (or use a food processor instead). Add the yellow onions and blend some more. Then add the tomatoes and cilantro and blend a third time until you’re happy with the consistency. It shouldn’t be puréed, but instead have a nice, somewhat chunky texture. The sofrito can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days or even frozen for later.

Sofrito can be served with meat or fish, with beans or rice, or used as a flavor bomb in soups or stews. It’s very versatile. We opted to pair ours with some pan-seared chicken breast. First, pan-sear 2 small to medium chicken breasts, seasoned with sea salt and fresh pepper, until just cooked through, about 4-5 minutes on each side. Set those aside, covered in foil. Then bring 2 Tbs EVOO to heat and add 2 cups of the fresh sofrito. Bring just to a simmer, reduce the heat, and stir for 5 more minutes.

Cover each plate with 1 cup of the fried sofrito, top with 1 chicken breast (we shared a plate, thus 2 breasts in the pic, LOL), and top with a little yogurt, cilantro and lime dressing. Serve up with a hearty bread and you’ve got a meal you won’t soon forget.