Soffritto

What is a soffritto?

Soffritto is a traditional seasoned vegetable base for many Italian pasta sauces, providing an intense aromatic and full-bodied flavour. It can also be the base for soups, such as minestrone, or a stew.

Onion, celery and carrots are considered the holy trinity for soffritto because when cooked on low heat and slowly in olive oil, the combined flavour creates an umami and versatile base.

Although these are the three core vegetables in Italy, regional and personal variations can sometimes be found. Sometimes garlic, parsley or other herbs are added in addition to onion, carrot and celery.

Preparation time: 10min

Cooking time: 30min

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 small white or yellow onion

2-3 medium-sized carrots

2-3 celery stalks

Cut the vegetables into different sizes. You do this because different vegetables have different cooking times. You can also cut them the same size if necessary but then you have to throw in veggies one by one to cook them properly.
Cut the carrot into small triangles and then slice them very thin (otherwise the carrot will take most of the time). Tip: you can also grate it, which is faster. We recommend doing both for different textures and to get extra creaminess in your final sauce.
Cut the onion in half and remove the skin. Try to hang back as much as possible while slicing to avoid crying. Then cut it first into rings and then into small cubes, but it should be chunkier than the carrot. And grate the other half of the onion.
Remove the bottom white part of the celery and take off the big strands. Then cut into small cubes and again grate the other half.
Warm up your pan with good Italian extra-virgin olive oil. Put all the cut pieces of vegetables in the pan at once and add the grated vegetables later. Stir for 4 minutes and let it fry. Now add the grated greens and keep stirring for another 1 / 2 minutes.

The Soffritto is ready and you can now proceed to finish your sauce. If you’ve made too much you can already