Culinary Technique - Purée

Purée is made with cooked vegetables that are finely mashed or strained. The best-known purée is mashed potatoes, sometimes mixed with carrots, green cabbage or Savoy cabbage, sorrel, or spinach. You can also obtain an interesting purée with less frequently-used vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli or radishes. Cook the vegetables thoroughly or lightly, purée them in a food mill, mash them with a fork or mince them very finely with a vegetable cutter. Then strain them through a wide-meshed sieve. You can whip your purée with a bit of butter or oil and season it to taste.  Purée is more than just a side dish for fish or meat. You can use it, for example, to prepare a “mayonnaise,” mixing vegetable purée and olive oil. It’s important to be sure that the purée is quite cold. Mix it with olive oil, season it and let it cool in the refrigerator. This works with cauliflower, carrots, turnips, potatoes, etc. You can also coat the fish with a bit of carrot mayonnaise, or add a spoonful of spinach purée to a dish in order to enhance its flavour.