Sofrito is the base of many Spanish dishes. Onion, pepper and tomato cook down slowly in plenty of olive oil until you have a thick, sweet sauce. In Valencia it is made especially red and rich, almost like a paste you could spread on bread. You can get everything for it anywhere. Mostly you need a good half hour, and that is often what is missing on a weeknight.
That is why I like to make these chickpeas on a Sunday. In the evening there is a warm bowl with toasted bread, and for the rest of the week a few jars sit in the fridge that you can eat cold, warm up or spoon over rice. Chickpeas suit this really well because they keep their shape in the sauce and soak up the olive oil. You probably have some in the cupboard anyway.
The most important thing is to patiently cook the water out of the tomatoes until oil shows at the edge of the pot again. Only then is the sofrito done. The paprika goes in with the tomatoes so it does not burn. Stir in the vinegar and parsley right at the end to keep everything fresh.
Do not let the onion brown, and be patient with the reducing. Only add salt once the chickpeas are in the pot. And when you fill the rest into jars, leave a little space at the top, as the oil settles there once it cools.
Ingredients
Steps
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What to drink
Young Rioja
A young Tempranillo from Rioja that still tastes fruity and of cherry, with hardly any oak, goes well with the paprika. A heavy, barrel-aged red would be too much with the sweet sofrito.
Variations
With greens
Stir a few handfuls of spinach or chard into the pot for the last 5 minutes and let them wilt. It makes the jars for the week a bit more filling.
On rice
Spoon the chickpeas and some of the sauce over leftover rice, and you have a different meal on another day.
With eggs
Make four hollows in the chickpeas, crack an egg into each, cover and cook until the whites have set. That makes dinner for two.