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Sopita

Sopita is a really simple food. It can be found in most ethnic food aisles. Small dry pasta shaped like letritas, semillas de melon, and conchitas, When I was younger, I could never cook it correctly. It always came out under cooked or overcooked, salty or flavorless. Now, I can cook it with minimal effort. I throw onions in a pan and saute it until most of the pieces turn a golden brown. While it's browning, I open a short can of tomato sauce, so it's ready to pour in. I learned to do this after burning the small alphabet and onion pieces so dark I had to thrown them away. It had been a long day, and my last bag of sopita.

Sopita is a simple food. My husband doesn't like it. The one time I did make it, as a side to a thin sirloin steak topped with chile, tomate, and cebolla, he looked at the plate oddly. I didn't understand. Now, I rarely make it. Usually, I only cook it when I know that we are having separate dinners. My favorite meal is picadillo con sopita. I mix the spicy ground beef with sopita, and it becomes a soupy caldio in my bowl. I sit on the couch, legs curled under me, and spoon it in my mouth. Each bite as good as the previous.

Sopita is simple, but I have soft spot for it. It is my comfort food. Today, for example, I'm feeling a little down. The pop in my rock has fizzed out, so I came home a little early and made myself some sopita. I set the timer on the microwave for twenty minutes. As it came to a simmer on the stove, I flipped through the channels trying to find something to watch while it cooked. I sat there, I thought about how much comfort the small little pasta gave me. My favorite have always been letritas or semillas de melon. They remind me of my childhood. The small letters swam on my spoon in a tomato soup as I ate them in the yellow kitchen.

"¿Quieres sopita, Prieta?"

"Si, Ita."  


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  1. sylvíssimaSeptember 24, 2015 at 11:48 AM

    my mom taught me to do my sopita, ours doesn´t have meat and preparation is a bit different. we throw the sopita right after the cebolla, and when is goldenish then and only then we add the tomato sauce and chopped tomato. then add water or caldo. what matters is that our reason to make the sopita is the same as ita's, the same as yours. let's all say: sopita.

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