Broccoli Purée
Serves 8
A friend of mine turned me on to making broccoli puree. I’ve added a few of my own twists to the recipe, and you may come up with more. Everyone who tries this loves it, making it a healthy and delicious alternative.
-Diane Strauss
Ingredients
4 heads cleaned broccoli, florets (crowns) only, stalk removed
1/2 stick butter (for dairy-free version, use 1/2 c olive oil total)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion, sautéed
3 cloves garlic peeled, chopped and sautéed with onion
Kosher, sea salt or truffle salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
METHOD
- Bring a large stockpot of salted water to a boil.
- While water is heating, sauté onions with garlic in additional sauté pan until soft and translucent. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add broccoli crowns and cook in boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove from boiling water and drain in colander.
- Roughly chop broccoli crowns and put in food processor.
- Add sautéed onions and garlic, butter, olive oil, freshly ground pepper (about 1/2 tsp) and about 1 tsp truffle or sea salt.
- Puree in food processor until completely smooth. You may have to stop processor and use spatula to scrape down sides until all incorporated. This could take up to 5 minutes.
- Taste and adjust for seasoning.
- Remove puree from processor and serve immediately while still warm or put in ovenproof baking dish and re-heat in 400°F. oven until hot. You may want to top with freshly grated parmesan cheese prior to heating in oven.
- This dish can be made a day ahead of time and heated in pre-heated 400°F. oven for about 30 minutes prior to serving.
- Serve broccoli puree instead of a starch with your favorite entrée or as side vegetable.
Variations
- Mix in grated cheese of your choice. I suggest cheddar, gruyere or parmesan. Heat in oven before serving.
- If you don’t have access to truffle salt you may add a bit of truffle oil when adding butter or olive oil.
- Add a bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice while pureeing in food processor.