If there’s anything you don’t want to hear when you serve a vegetable puree, it’s “That tastes just like baby food.”
A good French-style vegetable puree has one thing in common with baby food, which is that it’s super-smooth. When I worked in France, we cooked our vegetables for our purees until they were very soft, put them through a food mill or a blender, then pushed the puree through a tamis (a fine, meshed flat surfaced strainer) to remove any remaining fibers.
According to Joël Robuchon, the French chef who is best known for his simple potato puree, purees became so widespread in classic French cuisine because before the advent of modern dentistry most people had bad teeth and, like babies, were more comfortable eating very soft foods.
What makes a vegetable puree taste like baby food is usually two things: one, it’s underseasoned; and two, it’s one- dimensional. It’s easy enough to fix the first problem by adding enough salt, but how do you give your vegetable puree enough complexity to make you want to keep eating it after the first bite or two?
The answer is a little acidity in the form of sour cream and vinegar. The acidity balances the sweetness of the carrots. I also like to give the puree a richer mouthfeel by cooking the carrots in chicken stock instead of water. A sprig of thyme added at the end gives the puree a nice fragrance, and pinch of cayenne pepper gives it a little kick.
The finished puree has the complexity of a good soup as opposed to the bland simplicity of baby food. Serve this puree with shellfish, chicken or pork.
John Broening cooks at Duo and Olivea in Denver.
Carrot-Thyme Puree
Makes about 3 cups.
Ingredients
1 cup chicken stock
1 stick unsalted butter, diced
8 large carrots peeled, and sliced into 1-inch rounds
3 sprigs thyme
4 tablespoons sour cream or crème fraiche
3 tablespoons white vinegar
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
Bring the chicken stock and butter to a boil along with a pinch of salt. Add the carrots and a splash of water to cover if necessary. Simmer for half hour, or until the carrots are very tender. Add the thyme in the last 3 minutes.
Drain the carrots, reserving the liquid. Discard the thyme. Blend the carrots along with half the cooking liquid and the remaining ingredients. You should have a smooth, but not soupy, puree. Add some of the remaining cooking liquid if the puree is too thick.
Adjust the seasoning and serve.
