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| Mirepoix for Tomato Sauce |
In all its forms, either raw, roasted, or sauteed in butter, this trio is the base for many stocks, stews, and sauces. While this is the most common threesome, other cuisines have their own variations. In Italian culture, it is known as soffritto, and involves olive oil (instead of butter), as well as garlic, fennel, leek and herbs. In Creole cuisine, it is known as the Holy Trinity, and uses onion, bell pepper and celery.
The reason for the use of onions, carrots and celery (usually in a 50%, 25%, 25% ratio respectively) is the flavor and aroma that these three ingredients add to a dish. When chopping, there's not much need for uniformity among your cuts, since the vegetables cook down so much during the process. They get extremely soft and almost melt into the surrounding ingredients, adding body and thickness to the stew, soup or sauce. The smaller the dice, the quicker the aromas and flavors are released. In the event that you are looking to make a "white" stock (stock that has little to no color to it), substitutions for the carrots include parsnips and/or mushroom trimmings.
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| Roughly chopped mirepoix (Wikipedia) |
I keep these three ingredients on hand at all times, and they usually have a starring role on my grocery lists as well. So many things start with this threesome, its just easier to always make sure you have enough on hand. Even if you don't have a recipe to go on, it's the base for basic marinara sauces, as well as most soups and stocks, so even if you are throwing something together during that "clean out the fridge" week, it is best to have them on hand!
Fun Fact: In French restaurants, mirepoix is an important item in every line cook's "mise en place" (the prepared food items at their cooking stations that save them the trouble of making each tiny part of a recipe every time an order comes in). Read more at Suite101: Mirepoix: A combination of onion, carrot and celery
Hmm...never put carrots or celery in my sauce before. I am going to have to try this, but I will have to hide the celery from a certain hater. =) I'm guessing the carrots help sweeten the sauce?
ReplyDeleteThat's right! And, for that certain celery-hater, you can't even taste it! She doesn't have to know its even there, if you can chop it where when she isn't looking! ;)
ReplyDeleteCarrots and celery add such a nice, rich flavor to sauce.I was skeptical the first time I put carrots and celery into a marinara sauce. Growing up, my Mom really never cooked, so our sauce consisted of Prego or Ragu. So the idea of putting more "stuff" into a sauce recipe was a foreign concept to me. Not anymore!!
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