Sofrito

Sofrito is a term I heard recently and one that I have adopted as the secret to all good soups, casseroles and chowders. If you live near a Waitrose supermarket, and can afford it, you can buy sofrito already prepared; otherwise coarsely chop an onion, a couple of carrots and 2-3 celery sticks and gently fry in oil until softened. You can season the chopped vegetables at this stage with salt and pepper, and with any other herbs or spices dependent on what you are cooking. I have used turmeric with the vegetables when making a fish chowder or perhaps thyme with a chicken casserole. The equivalent in eastern cookery would be the garlic, ginger and onion pastes use in curries or the hot chilli, galengal and lemongrass of a Thai dish. When making risotto replace the carrot with garlic and with a jumbalaya try green peppers with the onion and celery. Once the base sofrito is cooked through you can the stock and main ingredient of the dish you are cooking. I plan to start putting some of my favorite recipes on a new website at www.cookwithdad.co.uk , so look out for more ideas of how to use sofrito in your cooking.

Cook With Dad

I spent most of the Christmas holidays cooking for my family; my wife, son, daughter and husband, sister and her family plus a significant contribution to a New Year's Eve Party that I couldn't attend in the end. It was during this marathon that I decided to put together a recipe book of my favourite or most requested dishes - Cook with Dad! My daughter helped with setting up the blog and I bought a domain name (www.cookwithdad.co.uk) that I hope to start developing with some help, because this idea is going to take off in 2009 - I hope!

I have a book case full of recipe books and cookery courses that I use regularly for inspiration, but seldom follow exactly: I never have the time, ingredients or inclination! In addition my wife is lactose intolerant and suffers from mild IBS, so I am always having to adapt the recipes. What I propose therefore is to take some of these great recipes and show how I have changed them to fit the circumstances.

The first thing I did was to list over 100 dishes that I cook or want to learn to cook. I started with four conventional categories: starters & soups, snacks/light bites, lunch and dinner. I then thought about grouping dishes into meals: breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, supper. I haven't decided yet which way to go but will do by the time I get the publishing contract!

So, the idea behind the blog is to post tips and hints on dairy-free cooking, new recipes and menus, and also a discussion on seasonal shopping in local shops and super markets. I hope you all enjoy the content as it develops and please give me feedback as appropriate.