Sofrito Green Beans a la Momocho Mod Mex

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When our friend Ron Maxwell had a birthday last year, his wife, Jan, decided to surprise him by having a bunch of us from church share in a dinner with him at his favorite restaurant, Momocho Mod Mex, which is in the Cleveland area.

The restaurant is known for its exotic guacamole offerings, which include one with smoked trout another with blue crab. I do not eat guacamole, so I cannot offer a comment on it, but those in the party who do loved it. I had the Machaca, a beef brisket rubbed with ancho and espresso coffee, and Wendi had the Bistec, a hangar steak with honey-chipotle mojo. We did enjoy our meals.

However, as we were wrapping up our meal, Jan had me taste the Sofrito Green Beans. I am not much of a green bean eater. I do eat them, but they are not my favorite. However, Momocho's green beans were the best I ever had. They were incredible.

Well, Wendi has been wanting us to incorporate more vegetables into our meals, so I told her we had to try to make green beans like Momocho does. We did, and the result was pretty good. Not nearly as good as Momocho, but very good, nonetheless.

As you will see in the recipe below, there are a lot of flavors that come popping out. The photos show the different stages of making the sofrito, a pesto-like conconction that provides a lot of flavor to green beans, black beans, grilled chicken and rice. The first is getting all of the ingredients into the food processor. The second show what the sofrito looks like once it has been pureed. The third is one of the beans, corn and sofrito in the pan (the recipe says to take the green beans off of the heat before adding the sofrito). The final one is the Sofrito Green Beans plated. They were good.

Now, here is the recipe: 

Sofrito Green Beans (recipe)

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This Latin style sauce is similar in consistency to a pesto or recado. It can be used to flavor black beans, braised pork, grilled chicken, seafood or vegetables. The recipe comes from the executive chef of Cleveland's Momocho restaurant.

Sofrito with Green Beans

Sofrito
Makes 2 cups
3 bunches cilantro
1 bunch scallions
1 Tsp. fresh oregano
10 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 medium to large poblano green chile
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup water
1 Tsp. kosher salt
1 Tsp. ground cumin
1 Tsp. ground black pepper

Wash and clean all fresh herbs. Trim tops of scallions. Peel skin from garlic and shallots. Remove stem and seeds from chile. Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Sofrito can be frozen or refrigerated up to seven days in an airtight container.

Green Beans
2 cups green beans
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 shallot, sliced thin
1 cup roasted corn kernels
Salt

Blanch fresh beans in heavily salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove and shock beans in ice water. Drain and cool. Heat oil in pan. Add beans, shallots and corn and saute on high until beans blister. Remove from heat, add 1 to 2 Tbsp. Sofrito, toss and serve.

via http://www.circvsmaximvs.com/showthread.php?t=54198#

-- Bobby