Chef Julie Carrion’s Puerto Rican Sofrito with Ham

Sofrito is the aromatic elixir that gets just about everything cooking in Boricua cuisine. Here is top Puerto Rican chef Julie Carrion’s go-to recipe for the Boricua cooking base. Her sofrito is an essential ingredient in the pork, yautia (often translated as taro but the root’s correct name is tannia) and green banana pasteles she will be making when she takes over the kitchen aboard Sea Cloud’s San Juan Chef Series voyage on January 10 to 17, 2025.

During Carrion’s week on the Sea Cloud Spirit’s inaugural sailing to the island, diners will be invited to participate in an interactive, family-style pastelada. Never been to one? A pastelada is a Puerto Rican tradition where family and friends gather to gossip, drink and help the cook in a pasteles-making assembly line. It makes quick work of the time-intensive, multi-step cooking and prep of this Boricua Christmas table star dish. Pasteles are similar to tamales except the masa is made with ingredients like root vegetables, unripe bananas, and achiote oil, and they are wrapped and boiled in banana leaves instead of corn husks.

As with most of our all-time-fave Puerto Rican dishes (hola arroz con pollo, arroz con gandules, picadillo!), cooking pasteles starts with a beautiful sofrito like this one, made with sabor and mucho amor. And speaking of amor, we love that Julie’s recipe uses cooked ham in the sofrito base, instead of stirring in the savory ingredient further into the cooking process. Most aromatic sofrito recipes we see here at Familia Kitchen include only vegetables and herbs: garlic, onion, bell peppers, aji dulce or cubanelle peppers, and cilantro.

Though she is classically trained in French technique, traditional Puerto Rican dishes have been embedded in Julie’s cooking career from her earliest days in the kitchen. “I was born in Puerto Rico, but I grew up here for most of my life,” says Carrion. Her childhood was spent in Sarasota, Florida, though she traveled regularly to visit family back on the island. ”A lot of our celebrations were anchored in the foods that are traditionally celebrated around the holidays, like Three Kings Day. Growing up, I understood the emotional connection  that food brings to these celebrations. And those create memories. I think it’s part of what connected me to cooking at a young age. I followed a more traditional path. I went to college and then went to culinary school afterward, but it was those holidays that reminded me of this part of my culture.”

We’ll soon be posting Julie’s famous recipe for Puerto Rican pasteles. Keep an eye out for it, and while we’re all waiting, we invite you to make her delicioso savory sofrito. It will keep for up to a week in your fridge, she says, to give you a cooking headstart on the pasteles prep. Always a good thing!

Special Sea Cloud Cruise Offer for Familia Kitchen Foodies

Familia Kitchen friends, if you’d like to set sail on any one of the four Sea Cloud itineraries to and from Puerto Rico, start your planning here. As a special invitation, Familia Kitchen community members are invited to receive a 2-for-1 BOGO special offer when booking any one of the Sea Cloud Spirit voyages featuring one of these four chefs. Reserve your voyage with this special offer by contacting Maritza Moreno and using promo code FAMKIT24. To book, email: [email protected] or call 888-732-2568.                  

Ready to Make Chef Julie’s Puerto Rican Sofrito?

Chef Julie Carrion’s Sofrito with Ham

Recipe by Julie Carrion

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Puerto Rican

Servings

4

cups

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

• 8 oz ham, chopped

• 2 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced

• 15 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped

• 10 cloves garlic, chopped

• 5 cubanelle or banana peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped

• 4 large yellow onions, chopped

• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped

• 3/4 cup canola oil

Directions

• Place all ingredients in a food processor and finely chop.
• Place blended ingredients in a 12″ skillet over medium-low heat.
• Cook until very soft, about 20 minutes.
• Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.