Kiwisizzler

Soffrito is Italian and means ‘to fry gently’. This technique is one of the most widely used in cookery and I believe it is one of the most important to master. It forms the base for so many dishes, including risotto and a multitude of soups and sauces. It has a long history but at the end of the day it is about gently frying some aromatic vegetables in oil until soft to create a savoury base to build upon. While this sounds like a straightforward idea, there are as many variations as there are ways to poach an egg. Here are a few tips:

Equipment

The best pans to use are a heavy bottomed skillet, saute or frying pan. The idea is to cook it slowly and a heavy-bottomed pan will diffuse the heat better. Don’t use a lid though – you want it to gently fry, not steam.

Oil or Butter?

This depends entirely on what the soffrito is a base for. You can use butter, oil or a mixture of the two. Butter burns at lower temperatures but gives better flavour. Using a mixture of butter and vegetable oil gives a higher temperature and the great buttery flavour. A good quality olive oil can be nice although bear in mind that a strong extra virgin olive oil can often give a bitterness to your final product. Use enough to coat the ingredients properly but not so much that they swim in it.

Ingredients

The traditional Italian soffrito is an equal mixture of onion, carrot and celery, finely chopped. This combination, along with celery and sometimes bacon, is also used as a base in much French cooking, where it is known as a mire poix. For a risotto, it usual to use only shallots or onions although for some dishes, you might like to try adding chopped parsley, bacon or pancetta. If using garlic, add once the other ingredients are nearly cooked as garlic is high in sugar content and can burn easily.

You can also season the soffrito with cracked black pepper, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary or other herbs. Don’t season with salt though – as with any dish, leave the salt until the end of cooking.

Cooking

Heat the pan with the oil or butter to a medium temperature. Having the butter and/or oil in the pan from the start will help you to gauge the temperature. Cook the soffrito very slowly, stirring occasionally. Depending on the quantity, it may take up to 40 minutes or as little as 5 minutes. The result should be perfectly soft without a hint of bite, and lightly golden.