Cover Your Bases
Mirepoix, Holy Trinity, Sofrito - Want to cover your bases?
Mirepoix, holy trinity, and sofrito are each composed of a few simple ingredients that in turn form the base of many dishes, especially stocks and soups, sauces, and stews. These bases give it all up for the greater good and once the finished dish is ready, you may not know they’re there but you’d miss them for sure if they weren’t.
Chef Ouita Michel starts her famous chicken stock for gravies and sauces with this classic mirepoix, which makes one pound; enough for about 2 quarts of stock. This ratio is also a great start to a tomato pasta sauce or chicken noodle soup
To make one pound of mirepoix -
8 oz onion
4 oz carrot
4 oz celery
Cut up all to your preferred size depending on what you’re making — a rough chop for stock or a more precise small dice for soup and sauces. Chef tip – weigh your vegetables before cutting, so you know how much to cut. The weight remains the same (minus any scrap removed) no matter how they’re cut.
Sweat onion, carrot and celery in a small amount of butter, olive oil, neutral oil or a blend – heat oil to medium-low, add veggies and a good pinch of salt, stir well and cook low until the veggies are soft and translucent, not browned and crisp. Lower the heat if vegetables start to brown, and cook until tender. And start building your sauce or soup from there.
Some recipes call for a lightly browned mirepoix. If yours does, wait until the vegetables are almost tender before turning up the heat to brown them and finish the cooking process.
Lisa’s Holy Trinity (for Étouffée)
8 oz yellow onion
8 oz green onion
8 oz bell pepper
8 oz celery
all minced
Lisa’s Holy Trinity mirrors a French mirepoix’s 2:1:1 ratio but with the addition of green onion, and bell pepper in place of carrot. In Lisa’s étouffée recipe, the vegetables are cooked directly in the roux. For recipes that call for a very dark roux, the holy trinity may be cooked separately and then added to the darkened roux before building the rest of the dish.
Agnes’s Puerto Rican Sofrito:
This is the recipe that Chef Agnes Marerro seasons her Mojo Isleño with, adding a couple of spoonfuls near the beginning, after the onions have started to soften. Agnes said her sofrito recipe was handed down from her great-grandmother to her grandmother to her mother. And now she’s shared it with us.
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cubanelle pepper, seeded and chopped
1 ½ cups chopped cilantro leaves
1 ½ cups culantro chopped leaves (similar to cilantro, sometimes called “blessed thistle”)
9-10 whole garlic cloves
1 large white onion, chopped
3-4 green onions, chopped
2 plum tomatoes, cut into slices or chunks
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor. Add water or oil if needed, and blend to desired texture. Store in an airtight glass jar in the refrigerator or freeze in ice cubes. Add to soups, stews and sauces for seasoning.
Remember that a good base is the secret to every good dish; enjoy these suggestions from our holy trinity – Chefs Ouita, Agnes and Lisa – and cover your own bases!
Related Content
Lisa’s Etouffee
Former Holly Hill Inn sous chef Lisa Laufer loved New Orleans. Countless cooks in our kitchen learned techniques and dishes at her side but when it came to writing down actual recipes, she liked to keep some things to herself. That’s why we say our recipe for Etouffee was inspired by Lisa. Because we’re pretty sure we’ll never be able to duplicate the secret ingredient she added to every dish ~ her own ineffable touch.
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