09 August 2012

Broccoli Puree

Inspired by one of the folks at hwz who pureed his cauliflower, I thought I'll give it a try with broccoli.

I didn't like to cook broccoli much because my mother once told me she found pieces of styrofoam bits wedged deep within the broccoli florets.

This was because those vegetable sellers will store them in big styrofoam boxes and inevitably, some parts of the box will crumble and fall onto the broccoli.

So this time, I chose to buy organic broccoli. I got them from Giant and it is from Zenxin, an organic food grower in Malaysia. Each broccoli was in shrink wrap so I felt the possibility of finding styrofoam bits in them was close to zero.

The broccoli that I got was a bit smaller than those usual non-organic broccoli. Mine was about 280g and cost me about $4 plus.

I used:
a whole broccoli flower
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
handful of baby carrots
3 tablespoons of grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons of heavy cream (I used Bulla cream)
3 - 4 thick slices of butter

- Cut the broccoli's stem away and slice the broccoli into smaller florets (be sure to check for foreign particles in your broccoli if you got them from a non-organic source!)

- Place broccoli, carrots and garlic into a boiling pot of water and boil until the broccoli and carrots are cooked

- Drain well and set aside

- Warm the cheese and cream in a pan over low heat until cheese melts

- Add butter into the pan and stir it into the cheese and cream until a creamy consistency is formed

- Place the drained broccoli/carrots/garlic and the butter/cheese/cream mix into a blender and blend well

If your puree is too dry, add some water. The texture should be like mashed potato, soft and smooth.


The ingredients I used came up to be able to fill this medium-sized bowl:

Homemade broccoli puree

















It was still warm when it was done and it tasted like mashed potato with just a hint of veggie. The taste surprised me (in a pleasant way) and I will probably make this again!

Perhaps I wouldn't use a whole broccoli next time since I wasn't able to finish this bowl and had to refrigerate it.

A piece of advice; enjoy the broccoli puree while it is still warm and on the day of making. When I took it out of the refrigerator the next day and warm it up, the puree didn't taste as WOW as it did the day before and the veggie taste also seemed to be more noticeable.

This puree is also great as a dip. I pan-fried some tuna steak and dipped them into the puree and man, it was goood!

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