Sofrito - A dynamite herb paste

I have many friends from the west indies and they introduced me to sofrito many years ago.  It is a paste of herbs and spices that kicks up the flavor of so many dishes - soups, stews, and sauces.  I found it in a glass bottle in the grocery store several years ago and happily added it to my refrigerated herbs paste.  Once I went to naturopathic school and learned about mono sodium glutamate (MSG).  I had to throw away my bottle of sofrito, which contained it.  I was devastated.  Of course I bounced back with other spices over time and forgot about my love of sofrito.

Today on the cooking channel, I learned how to make sofrito from scratch I was so excited I am sharing the ingredients with you and look forward to creating my own batch of sofrito to drum up the flavor of my dishes this summer.  I think that tomato one of the ingredients with the sofrito I orginally fell in love with.  When I didn't hear tomato as one of the ingredients I did a little more research to find out that in different countries sofrito is made with ingredients that are part of the culture.

Sofrito Ingredients ( exact amounts were not given): chopped garlic, onion, carrots, parsley, bell peppers and tomatoes were all common ingredients.  Some cultures use bacon or pancetta as the base to sofrito as well.  Of course, whatever I create will be vegetarian.