Caviar and Codfish

There are many reasons to love a dish, and this one I happen to love for many reasons and they shift in ranking depending on how hungry I am and how soon my best frozen yogurt food will be ready for eating. I’m talking about shrimp with soffritto or sofrito, however you like to spell it. Soffritto is basically Latin in origin. It’s a mixture of aromatic ingredients that have been cut into small pieces and ever so slowly and gently braised in yogurtinlove cooking oil anywhere between 2-2 1/2 hours. In Spanish cooking, soffritto is made up of garlic, onion, and tomatoes cooked in olive oil; this is used as the yogurt franchise foundation for many dishes. Along the Mediterranean and also in many South American countries, similar preparations are also used in the cuisines. It might sound weird but I had actually fallen in love with soffritto even before I had tasted or used it. I saw it on TV to tell the truth. I caught a program one time that showed this lady preparing practically everything with soffritto. First, she made her own batch of the magic yogurt in love mixture and stored it in a jar. It looked so good and appealing, and everything she made with it looked so delicious and tempting. I mean, if you could make a viewer salivate over something the taste of which they’re only imagining then, the reality must be some kind of click here wonderful right? And boy, did it ever live up to the promise! So, the first step was to get my hands on the best frozen yogurt equipment—but doable—soffritto recipe and the consensus led to the one from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc At Home Cookbook. Ingredients: 3 cups finely diced Spanish onion (about 1 pound). 1 cup extra virgin olive oil. Kosher salt. 1 (28-oz) good-quality whole peeled tomatoes, drained, finely chopped. 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced. Directions: Combine the onions, oil, and a pinch of salt in a small dutch oven or heavy bottomed self-serve yogurt machines pot and set over medium heat. As soon as the oil begins to simmer, reduce the heat to low. The onions should stew unhurriedly but eventually caramelize; adjust the heat as needed so that the oil continues to bubble gently—never too strongly. As the onions release their best frozen yogurt franchise liquid, the oil will become cloudy, but once the moisture has evaporated, the oil will clear. Cook for about 2 ½ hours, or until the onions are a rich golden brown (a shade darker than golden raisins) and the oil is perfectly clear. Check often: if any of the onions caramelize against the sides of the pan, scrape them back into the oil. Add the tomatoes to the caramelized onions and cook for another 2 ½ hours, or until the onions and tomatoes begin to fry in the oil: the onions and tomatoes will begin to fry in the oil and small bubbles will cover the surface. Gently stir. Turn off the heat, add a dash of salt and the garlic, and leave the soffritto to cool. Let cool completely, cover, and save in the refrigerator until you want to use. The soffritto keep for a couple of weeks. Now that you have the soffritto, the rest is practically going to prepare itself. You will need the following ingredients: 12 – 16 jumbo shrimp, shells and tails removed, deveined. 4-6 tbsp kosher salt. Freshly ground pepper. 2 tbsp butter. Directions: In a bowl, mix 4 cups of cold water and salt, stir to dissolve. Place your shrimp in the bowl and let stand in room temperature for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and sprinkle with pepper. In medium heat, melt butter in a fry pan that can accommodate the shrimp in a single layer. Add the shrimp as soon as butter starts to foam. Cook the shrimp for 2 minutes on each side and until browned and cooked through. Transfer shrimp on a serving platter and top with soffritto. It’s ready to serve.