Saturday morning I woke up from a vivid dream about making vegetable purées; I am not making this up.
It was fortuitous because we were going to get our share at the Brookfield Farm in Amherst, MA, that very day and we still had lots of roots down in the basement from our last pick up in December. I'd completely forgotten about purées until the dream. This just goes to show that the unconscious mind is greatly underappreciated.
This afternoon, in the process of thinking about what I might do with all the root vegetables, and not forgetting about Saturday's nudge from my unconscious mind, I got out our copy of Faye Levy's Fresh From France to look up some recipes for purées I thought I remembered seeing in there.
Although we in the US tend to think of purées as food for babies and invalids, in France, according to Levy, "they are loved not only at simple restaurants but at the most sumptuous of tables...The silky-smooth texture of purées enables us to somehow perceive the taste of the vegetable even more intensely. Depending on how they're seasoned or served, purées can take on a character all their own or dramatically alter an otherwise straightforward dish."
Reading the recipes, the mystery of how the magic of puréeing "enables us to somehow perceive the taste of the vegetable even more intensely," is quickly cleared up- it's the butter and the cream that does it. I'm pretty sure of this.
I don't eat a lot of butter and cream these days, hardly any in fact. Sometimes a little goes a long way though, as in the case of the following carrot purée, which is not quite so heavy on the butter and cream as some of the others in the book.
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Purée de carottes
Makes 6 servings
1 tablespoon of butter
1/4 to 1/3 cup of heavy cream, or 2-3 tablespoons of milk, at room temperature
salt and pepper
a pinch of sugar (optional)
Peel carrots and cut in 1/2 inch slices. In a medium sized saucepan, cover carrots with water, add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil, Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook about 35 minutes, or until very tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Drain throughly in a large strainer. Purée in a food processor until very smooth.
In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat, add purée and heat throughly. Gradually stir in cream and cook until all is absorbed. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and sugar. Serve hot.
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Adding the sugar to this seems unnescessary, especially when it's made with really good carrots. I might try substituting silken tofu or oat milk for the cream, and olive or canola oil for the butter,
I'm sure that Anthony Bourdain (who I enjoy in spite of and sometimes because of his idiosyncracies) would not approve of this variation. Once upon a time (before breast cancer) I wouldn't have approved of it either. He'd probably do the same if he were in my shoes.
