UrbanMonique

Purées

My Nephew Ian comes up with so many good questions that turn into posts, I should have him on the payroll… This time around, he asks “Was thinking about making a cauliflower purée – how do I do that so that it actually tastes good?” The question sparked the realization that I get a lot of questions about purèes, so it’s time to expand on the topic.

Most humans start out eating purées as their first ‘solid’ food; that may explain both the attraction as well as the reticence many adults have with the concept. A purée is basically a sauce, somewhere between a paste and a very thick liquid in consistency. Point of fact, several variants are things we eat quite often, like apple sauce and mashed potatoes. Others are a bit rarer, like the cauliflower Ian asked about. The term is, of course, French – it means to purify or refine, and it’s quite old – My research found references to it all the way back to the 1200s.

Achieving a purée isn’t difficult; foods can be blended, processed, ground or sieved to achieve the desired result. That means that those of you who don’t have blenders or processors won’t be left out – something as simple as a sturdy single mesh strainer, a masher, or an old fashioned potato ricer will work just fine for many foods; a large fork will work in a pinch, too.

When it comes to constructing a tasty purée, a little forethought goes a long way. Potatoes lend themselves selflessly to the process, while that cauliflower requires a bit more effort. In both cases, (as with most foods you purée), cooking is necessary; this achieves several things, from making a food purée-able, to arriving at the desired consistency, and improving overall flavor. Steaming is always a great first cooking choice as it preserves nutrient content better than boiling does. A slow, gentle simmer is another good choice. At a minimum, blanching prior to puréeing takes the raw edge off, and maintains nice, bright colors as well.

Next consideration is water content. You might think that the average spud has more water onboard than cauliflower does, but it ain’t necessarily so – cauliflower is around 92% water, while the potatoes are more like 79%, (root veggies are among the lowest water content of any of the common veggies, one reason they store well.) What that tells us is that the cauliflower is going to require some reduction in water content to achieve a good purée, while the spuds will need some moisture added. Here’s a handy reference for future use.

Next consideration is the overall taste profile – what you’re after with a purée. Foods that have big flavor right out of the chute, like apples and berries, or sweet peppers and fresh peas, don’t need a whole lot of reinforcement to make a great purée – A little spice in the former (cinnamon, vanilla bean, ginger for instance), a little seasoning in the latter (sea salt, fresh ground pepper, a touch of citrus), and you’re good to go. Working with a light touch in either example allows the food being puréed to shine without being overpowered. Now that cauliflower, well… There are certainly folks who like this veggie plain, but it’s a safe bet more of us like some serious augmentation – my version treats it pretty much like mashed potatoes, adding stock, dairy, and fresh herbs, as you’ll see below. Personally, I treat almost all root veggies that way – They’re big on starch and sugar, but can all use some help in the taste arena.

A few final thoughts. A purée is a nice change of pace, and a great way to insert a touch of flavor into every bite of a main course dish. Whatever you purée, a nice, smooth consistency is what you’re after – gritty or lumpy isn’t likely to float anybody’s boat – This is where stock and dairy, (cream, sour cream, butter, and yoghurt are all nice), really shine as an adjunct ingredient. Keep that textural change in mind; make sure there are plenty of other touches, like a little crunch, so that you’re presenting a nice, balanced plate. Consider something a bit outside the box when you’re ready to try one – The herbed blueberry version below goes great with pork or chicken, as a for instance.

Here’s a couple to get you started.

Cauliflower Purée

1 Head Cauliflower

1/4 Cup Vegetable Stock

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 Tablespoon Avocado Oil

1 teaspoon Lemon Thyme

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Rinse cauliflower, pat dry, and cut into roughly 1/2″ chunks.

Place cauliflower in a steamer basket, within a large pot with about an inch of water therein.

Turn heat to medium high until water starts to boil.

Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and steam cauliflower until it mashes easily when tested with a fork, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Transfer cauliflower to a blender or processor. Add stock, oil, butter, lemon juice, and salt. Pulse until a nice, smooth consistency is achieved, about a minute.

Crush lemon thyme by hand and add; add a few twists of pepper. Pulse to incorporate, taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Serve promptly.

Herbed Blueberry Purée

2 Cups fresh Blueberries, (frozen will do fine)

2 Tablespoons Agave Nectar

1 Navel Orange

4-5 leaves Fresh Basil (Cinnamon, or Christmas Basil is spectacular)

Pinch Sea Salt

Rinse blueberries, then toss them into a blender or processor and pulse to a smooth consistency, about 30 seconds.

Cut orange in half; zest and juice half, return the rest to fridge.

Chiffonade basil.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine berries, honey, zest, juice of half orange, and salt.

Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat so blend is at a low simmer; cook for 10 to 15 minutes until blend has reduced and thickened notably.

Remove from heat, add basil and stir to incorporate. Allow basil to steep for 15 minutes as the mixture cools.

Pour the blend into a glass bowl through a single mesh strainer to remove solids and basil leaf.

You can serve just as it is, or allow to cool to room temperature.

Will store refrigerated for 3-4 days.

To serve, heat in a sauté pan, add 1 tablespoon of butter and whisk to incorporate.

Serve hot.

Basque Piperade

Basque Piperade, or more properly, Piperrada, is an absolutely fabulous tomato-pepper sauce from the Basque country; the name derives from the Basque word for pepper. As with so many signature dishes, everyone has a recipe and they’re all different. In broadest terms, piperrada contains green and or red, yellow, and orange sweet peppers, tomatoes, and onion. Like that, it may be served as a side dish like a salsa or a base for stews, more like the basque version of mire poix. With the addition of a protein, (Eggs, ham or sausage), it becomes a hearty main course. The generally agreed point is that any version should be powered by red Espelette peppers, Piment d’Espelette in the French, and Ezpeletako biperra in the Basque.

That legendary chile comes from its namesake town and a few surrounding communes in the Pyrenees. For about 12 years now, they’ve had AOC status, meaning that just like Champagne and Dijon mustard, they gotta be grown there to be called the real deal Espelette. Introduced into France by explorers hundreds of years ago, they’ve become a veritable cornerstone of Basque cuisine, and a key ingredient in piperade. An pepper festival is held annually in October, with colorful ristras of drying chiles be decking the towns. Espelettes score around a 4,000 on the Scoville scale, making them about like a Jalapeño in heat output.

Fresh and dried Espelettes are available online, but caveat emptor, there are also a lot of fakes. I get mine ground from World Spice; they’re genuine AOC chiles and the quality is consistently high, https://www.worldspice.com/spices/piment-despelette. Be prepared if you decide to dive in; an ounce will set you back about twelve bucks. That said, if you want to make the authentic dish, you need the real chile; they have a fruity, earthy heat that reflects their terroir; like legendary grapes, that certain je ne sais quoi comes from nowhere else. Here’s my version.

5-7 fresh, ripe Tomatoes

1 large Sweet Onion, chopped

1 Green Bell Pepper, seeded and chopped

5-6 small, sweet Yellow and Orange Peppers, seeded and chopped

1-2 Hatch Chiles, (Hot or Mild as you prefer)seeded and finely chopped

2-3 cloves Garlic, crushed and finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground Piment d’Espelette

1/2 teaspoon local Honey

1/2 teaspoon Sal de Mer

1/4 teaspoon ground Pepper Blend

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onion, peppers, garlic, salt, paprika, black pepper, and sugar, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through.

Add the tomatoes to the cooked vegetables and simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 15 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened.

Transfer to a glass or stainless container and allow to cool thoroughly before serving.

Will last for a good week refrigerated in any air tight container.

Vas-y!

Health Impacts of Caffeine – Good, Bad, or Somewhere in Between?

At fifty five years of age, I don’t have many active vices left; coffee, really good coffee, is pretty much it. I roast my own, from single source, organic, fair trade green beans. I’ve got a very good grinder, and an excellent drip brewing setup. Like I said, it’s really good coffee; so good that you literally start to get a buzz just breathing in the steam from a fresh cup. Caffeine – That’s what it’s all about, and that begs the question – What are the health impacts of caffeine on humans – Is it good, bad, or a little of both?

Caffeine is arguably the most widely used central nervous system stimulant in the world, with coffee and tea drinking accounting for the lion’s share. In addition to coffee beans and tea leaves, caffeine is found in cocoa beans, kola nuts, mate, guarana, and some 50+ other plants around the world. Caffeine wielding plants use it as a pesticide, to discourage competing plants from getting too close, and as a reward enhancer for bee pollinated species.

The U. S. Food & Drug Administration doesn’t require manufacturers to disclose the amount of caffeine in food products, but the European Union does. It shows up in a myriad of products, quite a few in which you might not expect to find it in, non-cola sodas, energy drinks (including energy waters), painkillers, breath fresheners, and even sunflower seeds can all pack a significant caffeine buzz.

Pure caffeine was first isolated by German and French chemists in the early 19th century, and scientists have been messing with it ever since. An alkaloid with an aromatic core, it’s a white, odorless, water soluble powder.

Before looking at caffeine’s specific effects, it’s important to note how good it is at getting into our systems. It’s a relatively fast acting drug, reaching peak bloodstream absorption as quickly as 15 minutes. Its half life, (the time it takes to lose 50% of its effectiveness), is 3 to 7 hours in adults. The next consideration is bioavailability; this is a measure of absorption, expressed as a fraction – how much of a drug reaches the blood system. A drug injected intravenously has 100% bioavailability: The bioavailability of caffeine is 95%. Thirdly, there’s protein binding, a measure of efficiency determined by the percentage of a drug that becomes bound by proteins within our blood plasma. The lower the protein binding fraction, the more unbound drug, and the greater its ability to do what it does. Protein binding for caffeine is around 30%, meaning 70% of the caffeine that hits our blood stream is available to do its thing. The bottom line? Caffeine is exceptionally active within human beings.

Caffeine is a stimulant, which it does by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain and inhibiting drowsiness. That same quality allows it to act on the autonomic nervous system, appreciably speeding up our reaction time. Additional known benefits include increased metabolism, more efficient energy use, as well as enhanced concentration and problem solving skills. There are ongoing studies to determine caffeine’s efficacy in reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as providing some level of protection against Parkinson’s disease and certain cancers.

Yet all is not wine and roses. The list of known and potential negative side effects of caffeine is easily as long as that of its benefits. Insomnia, disrupted sleep patterns, significant withdrawal issues, problems during pregnancy including miscarriage, low birth weight, and withdrawal issues for newborns, (the half life of caffeine for neonates is 60 – 120 hours). Add high blood pressure, high blood sugar, decreased bone density, anxiety, and chronic headaches, and you’ve got more than enough reasons to be careful with this stuff.

Naturally, the next question is, how much is too much? Numerous factors have bearing on the answer, from gender and age, to health, body weight, and metabolism. The general consensus indicates that an intake level under 400 milligrams a day is safe; that’s something on the order of 3-4 cups of brewed coffee, 4 shots of espresso, and up to 10 cups of tea. And For the record, yes, caffeine can be fatal at very high doses; it would take something on the order of chugging 80 to 100 cups of coffee to get there.

The obvious and sensible answer is, of course, All things in moderation. The simple solution is to avoid all that ‘energy’ crap and stick to things that allow you a reasonable degree of control over your intake.