Carrot Puree One

Over the past three months, I have made carrot puree at least seven times, and each time I liked it better than the last version. The secret to a really great carrot puree is to take a stack of carrots (they can be the biggest, ugliest carrots if you wish), peel them, trim off the ends and divide them into two piles. Juice one pile, and roughly chop the other pile. Aim to juice almost twice as many carrots as you chop. It doesn't really matter how roughly they are chopped as that's the beauty of a puree. 

Now cook the carrots in their own juice in a pot. Try to choose a size that allows the carrots to be completely submerged in the juice. Top it up with a tiny bit of water if desired. Bring to a boil and cook the carrots until nearly all the juice is gone - you want the pot to go almost dry so the carrots will begin to caramelize and sweeten. If preferred, you can cut the carrots smaller so they cook more quickly and retain more of the juice for pureeing. Puree the carrots, adding just as much water as needed to form a smooth puree (Vitamix or other high power blenders are AWESOME for this).

Carrot Puree is pictured here with Seared Squid Tube, Butter Poached Lobster Tail, Lobster Claw and Chive Salad, Charred Brussels Sprout Petals, Pickled Shallots, and Grapefruit Beurre Blanc.

 If you would like a dark, vibrant, heavier carrot puree that really highlights the flavor of the carrots, simply add water, salt, ground white pepper, and granulated sugar as needed to achieve the desired taste and consistency. You may not want to add any sugar at all, or you may prefer to use sugar syrup or maple syrup, and in this case, use less water. White pepper is the key so you don't see little specks in the puree and it really, really, highlights the flavor so be generous and create a nice peppered carrot puree. The final step is to pass the puree through a chinois to create the optimal, smooth texture.

This puree is great reheated (bring to a gentle boil), cold, or thinned out a bit more, it would make a great base fir a soup. I eat it by the spoonful like caramel sauce.