Recipe: Ajiaco Cubano and Cuban Style Sofrito

Ajiaco Cubano
Source: Sonia Martinez

This dish is very hearty, so it should be eaten with nothing else except bread and a light fruit dessert. This recipe will feed 20, but you can cut in half and it can be frozen in batches.

10 quarts water
1 lb beef jerky (tasajo)
2 lbs flank steak, cubed
2 lbs pork, cubed
2 lbs pork spare ribs, separated (optional)
1 3lb hen, cut up
4 ears corn, cut in fourths
2 lbs malanga (a yellow taro)peeled, cut in chunks
4 green plantains (soaked in lime juice)peeled, cut in chunks
2 lbs yuca (frozen or fresh)peeled, cut in chunks
2 lbs Cuban boniato (sweet potato, not yam)peeled, cut in chunks
2 lbs pumpkin, peeled, cut in chunks
1 lb ame (a white taro) peeled, cut in chunks
1 lb guagui (a greyish taro) peeled, cut in chunks
4 ripe plantains, peeled, cut in chunks
4 limes for soaking green plantains
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Sofrito (see recipe below)

The day before:
Cut the beef jerky in large pieces and soak in water to cover. Soak overnight. Next day, drain and place in a very large and deep stockpot. Add the 10 quarts of water and the cut up hen. Boil for one hour. Add the flank steak and pork pieces. Add the spare ribs. Boil for one more hours. Remove fat and froth that will rise to top.

While meats are cooking, make the "sofrito", peel and cut the "viandas" (vegetables). When meats are tender, add the viandas, except ripe plantains and pumpkin. Cook about one more hour.

Add the sofrito and cook another 20-30 minutes. Add the ripe plantains and pumpkin and cook 30 more minutes or until pumpkin and plantains are tender. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

If broth is too thin, thicken by mashing some of the viandas in a little broth and adding it back to the pot. Serve in a large soup tureen and give each guest a large, flat rimmed soup bowl.

You can place lime slices in little dishes along the table. The ajiaco tastes really good with freshly squeezed lime juice, but let each guest decide if they would like to squirt their own.

Sofrito (Cuban Style Sofrito)
Source: Sonia Martinez

Sofrito is the base of many typically Cuban recipes. My mom used to chop up all the ingredients (except bay leaf) in a blender and store in a jar with a drizzle of olive oil on top. Stored in refrigerator, it can last about a week. She would spoon out amounts needed for each recipe, add the bay leaf and then saut and simmer as directed. The secret to a good sofrito is to let it simmer a while so all the tastes meld.

21 cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
8 to 10 garlic cloves, chopped
1 or 2 bay leaves
touch of ground cumin
touch of dried oregano
3/4 cup Sherry, or to taste
4 Tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste (optional)

Saute tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, bay leaves, cumin and oregano in oil slowly until all vegetables are limp. Add Sherry and let simmer. If you add the salt, taste beforehand as you might not need it at all.