Soffritto
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soffritto (literally "sub-fried" in Italian) forms the base of many common Italian dishes. It typically consists of aromatic ingredients sautéed with cooking oil. The basic soffritto is prepared with olive oil, chopped onions (or scallions) and sometimes chopped garlic cloves. While olive oil is most typical of traditional Italian cuisine some regional recipes may call for butter as the main cooking fat of a soffritto (especially in Piedmont which is heavily influenced by French cuisine, but also widespread in all Northern Italy) or even for lard (in the Northeastern portion of Italy, where Germanic influence is stronger). The next step is to add extra ingredients to the soffritto. There is a great variety of options, such as vegetables (carrots, celery, artichokes, etc.), mushrooms, prosciutto, tuna, olives and so on.
