Short theme: vegetable purées

Over the past two weeks I did some experimentation with vegetable purées.

General principles:

• Texture transformation:  especially in the case of the cauliflower and beets, the resulting texture is magically different -- almost unrecognizable.
• versatility:  a single purée can often be used in several of the following ways:  soup, flavoring base for pilaf-style starch (quinoa, couscous, bulgar wheat, etc.), pasta sauce, crostini spread, sauce over meat, stand-alone side dish, flavoring in salad dressing.
• fat/oil substitute:  the purée can often eliminate or reduce the need for added cream, butter, etc. in a pasta sauce or soup.

Cauliflower purée
My concoction was based closely off of this recipe.  Being without sour cream, I added 1 tablespoon of yogurt and increased the butter from 1 to 2 tablespoons and added a pinch of sugar to compensate for the sourness of the yogurt.  The result  had a nice mild flavor, yet distinctly of cauliflower.  In my opinion, the texture was not too different from nice creamy grits.  My housemate Mike was certain that it was or had potato  in it.  Next time it might be good to try it with red meat or roasted salmon.

cauliflower purée with baby potatoes and smoked salmon

Red beet purée
Tried to follow this recipe.  In the end, my mix was the following (approximately):

• 1 pound cooked beets, peeled
• one clove garlic
• dash cayenne pepper
• stems of one half bunch of coriander (about 2 tablespoons chopped)
• 12-15 leaves of mint
• 1/4 teaspoon each of cumin and coriander
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons yogurt
• Salt ( roughly 1/4 teaspoon)

The mint was very, very subtle; add more next time.  Additionally, the spice level could be boosted a bit.  Overall, the spread was excellent.  Mike gave it high marks and Michelle said it greatly exceeded her expectations.

Beet purée on crostini

Roasted red Bell Pepper purée
I made the base sauce following this basic procedure, and reduced the oil from about 1/2 cup to 3/8 of a cup.  The basic purée had a slightly "foamy" or frothy texture -- very light in density.  I did a couple of things with this pepper sauce.  First, I made a drizzle sauce for rock cod by combining approximately 5 tablespoons of the sauce base with about 2 mL of  basalmic vinegar.  I realized that lemon juice on the fish does not combine well with the bitterness of the roasted pepper.  Also, it's imperative that the sauce and fish be served very hot.  Otherwise, I thought it worked well.   Secondly, I used about 2 tablespoons of the sauce as a flavor base for quinoa.  Finally, I mixed it with a bit of lemon juice and water to make a salad dressing, which worked out decently.

Roasted red pepper sauce over pan-fried rock cod and cilantro

Sweet pea custard/timbale
The recipe comes from "The modern vegetarian" by Maria Elia.   See the recipe in the image below.  I reduced the cream by about  30%.  The texture of the custard was nice and delicate, much like a soufflé.  The little pieces of pea were definitely distinguishable since I used a food processor instead of a blender.  The egg flavor was prominent alongside the pea and mint.  We discovered that it is definitely better served warm than chilled.

Sweet pea custard

Recipe for Sweet pea custard

Summer squash sauce
This was my one true improvisational work amongst these 5 vegetable purées.  I couldn't find many recipes out there for sauces of summer squash.  There are many that use butternut squash or other winter squashes; for example, this one.  The general template seems to be: the squash, olive oil, aromatics, spice (e.g., nutmeg), herbs and cheese or cream.  With a base sauce of zucchini and patty gold squash, I made a portobello mushroom dish and two different pasta dishes.  Ingredients for the basic sauce were:

• one large zucchini
• An equal mass of patty gold squash
• About one cup of chicken broth
• one medium onion
• one garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon  olive oil
• 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
• ~25 basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• dash of nutmeg
• 4 teaspoons cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice, or to taste

Portobello mushroom with squash sauce

Fusilli with bacon, mushroom, black-eyed peas and squash sauce

The portobello dish did not work well with the sauce -- it just had too strong of a flavor for the mild squash, and the texture was not a very good match either.  The first fusilli pasta had the additional ingredients of bacon, portobello mushroom, and black-eyed peas.  I thought it worked well with the possible exception of the black-eyed peas, which have a strong flavor as far as beans go.

The second pasta dish had shrimp seasoned with a little Hungarian paprika, julienned red bell pepper, and garlic added to the base squash sauce.  This turned out to be my favorite of the three summer squash sauce  dishes I made.

Fusilli with shrimp and red pepper

Marinating

Over the past 2 weeks I did a handful a dishes involving marinating (red meat, chicken, seafood, tofu, and vegetables).  Marinating serves three main purposes: first, to infuse flavor, secondly, to increase the perceived tenderness of the item, and thirdly, to increase the moisture content in the item.  I say "perceived tenderness" because several sources claim that the acid of a marinade doesn't actually significantly break down the item, but rather increases saliva production in our mouths, which contains a large amount of enzyme that actually does break down the item.

Generalizing a marinade
In my mind, there are 4 main aspects of a marinade mixture: salt, acid, duration  (of soaking the meat, tofu, etc.) and other flavoring ingredients.

• Salt:  increases moisture/juiciness of the meat and adds flavor, obviously.   In my recipes here, the salt concentration is generally between 3 and 8%, going up as high as 10% for Alton Brown's shrimp brine and also for the Mediterranean chicken marinade.
• Acid:  increases perceived tenderness of the meat.  In the recipes here, the concentration of acidic ingredient (citrus juice, vinegar, etc.) in the marinade  is usually around 35% and goes as low as 20% for the teriyaki and somewhat higher for the marinated vegetables.
• Duration:  obviously, the longer it soaks, the stronger the flavor and more tender/juicy the meat.  On the flipside, if it sits too long, it it will become too salty or overly acidic or will start to break down and become mushy.   In the recipes here, the duration is usually between 4 and 24 hours (and less than 1 hour for the seafood).  In general, the thicker the piece of meat, and the more surface area there is, the longer the duration should be.
• Other flavorings/ingredients: some of the ingredients that kept reappearing in the recipes here include: chopped herbs, spices, garlic/ginger/shallots, chile/pepper,  flavored oils, soy, mustard.