The first recipe I tried from Modernist Cuisine at Home was Caramelized Carrot Puree. The flavor of the carrots is intensified by pressure cooking them with baking soda. The baking soda allows caramelization to occur at temperatures that a pressure cooker can generate. I really liked the result, although I think I will pressure cook the carrots slightly longer next time as European pressure cookers use a lower maximum pressure than American pressure cookers (13 psi versus 15 psi). The caramelized carrot puree was very nice and creamy and had a great deep carrot flavor. I think it would be great to combine this with something else to create a nice amuse bouche. I just haven’t thought of what yet 😉

The recipe in MCaH is not very clear as to the amount of carrots to be used. In the recipe it is recommended to cut the fibrous core out of the carrots, as it could introduce a bitter taste. I started with 500 grams (1.1 lbs) of carrots, but after peeling and removing the core there was only about half of that left. I decided to keep the amount of water the same (as the recipe advised not to scale it down to avoid having too little water to produce enough steam), but scale down the amounts of butter, salt, and baking powder. It turned out great, although as mentioned above a bit more caramelization should be possible. Most of the work is in coring the carrots and it also seems wasteful, so I will try it without coring the carrots next time.

Ingredients

500 grams (1.1 lbs) carrots (250 grams after peeling and coring)

50 grams (3 1/2 Tbsp) unsalted butter

30 ml (2 Tbsp) water

2.5 grams (1/2 tsp) salt

1.25 grams (3/16 tsp) baking soda

Preparation

Peel the carrots cut them into quarters lengthwise.

Slice away the tough fibrous cores (optional) and cut the carrots into pieces 5 cm (2 inches) long.

Melt the butter in the pressure cooker.

Mix the water with the salt and baking powder, and add it to the pressure cooker together with the carrots.

Stir to mix.

Pressure cook for 20 minutes (start timing when full pressure is reached).

Depressurize the cooker by running tepid water over the rim.

Blend to a smooth puree with an immersion blender. If you like you can pass the puree through a fine sieve to make sure it is completely smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt.

Flashback

Two years ago I prepared prosciutto-wrapped monkfish sous-vide. This is a very nice combination, that you can also prepare in the oven. I think today’s carrot puree would go very well with the prosciutto-wrapped monkfish.