Tippy Tuesday, Mirepoix, Who is Mira Pwah?

If you like to cook, you may have heard of a “Mirepoix”.  Maybe you have heard Martha say it, she likes to say it, who wouldn’t?  Meeer ah pwahhhhh.  What the heck is it?

According to Wikepedia:
Mirepoix, either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter, is the flavor base for a wide number of dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces. The three ingredients are commonly referred to as aromatics.
Similar combinations of vegetables are known as holy trinity in Creole cooking, refogado in Portuguese, soffritto in Italian, sofrito in Spanish and Suppengrün (soup green(s)) in Germany.

 Mix your pile of veggies until they are all evenly distributed, then portion them out to about 1 cup rations and freeze them in sandwich bags. 

So….now we know what this is, why would you use it?   I use it probably once a week, if I make Spaghetti Sauce, the mirepoix goes first.  If I make a saute of anything, the mirepoix goes first.

I know you are thinking, “that is a whole lot of chopping going on a regular basis”.  Well it needn’t be so.  I make a whole batch of mirepoix at one time and freeze them in individual bags, by about 1 cup each. 

When you are ready to have mirepoix come to the party, she is ready in your freezer.  I simply dump her in a hot pan with some Olive Oil and after a little splatter, she warms right up and gets to work. 

So the next time you might see a recipe that calls for this mysterious ingredient, you can thank GTC for dispelling the fog of what it is.