Buttery, sweet, savoury, and goes with just about anything! These are just some of the reasons I love this carrot and caramelised onion purée. Easy to make, with just four simple ingredients, this purée is luxurious and utterly delicious!
Purées – not quite a mash, not quite a sauce. More like a smooth paste (not quite the most aesthetic word, but you’ve got to call a spade a spade!) They are typically made by cooking and blending various vegetables, or fruits, to get a smooth consistency. Purées are perfect for when you want to add a pop of colour to a plate, or want to get fancy and achieve that perfect chef ‘smear’ with the back of a spoon! Think beetroot purée, pea purée, apple purée, or pomme (potato) purée. They’re a great way to jazz up fruit and vegetables, create a new textural element for your dish, and are incredibly versatile. Best of all, they are typically quite easy to make!
Making this Carrot and Caramelised Onion Purée
This recipe for a carrot and caramelised onion purée is pretty simple. It just starts with butter (as many good things do), red onions, carrots, and a pinch of salt, caramelised together and blended into a purée.
The key to this purée truly is the red onion. Caramelising the red onion brings out a lovely sweetness that complements the sweetness of the carrots beautifully. This is especially important when your carrots are not particularly flavourful – no one likes a bland purée!
The addition of the browned butter gives this purée a luxurious, creamy mouth-feel. It also gives a nutty, caramel-like flavour from browning the butter. Plus, when you use a quality butter, you get healthy saturated fats, minerals and fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, K2, and so much more! And in my opinion, the creaminess of the butter enhances the carrot and the caramelised onion flavours. The result is a deliciously rich purée.
When blending the purée, I add a few cubes of cold butter as part of the emulsification process. It adds a final gloss to the dish, and a final level of smoothness. I like to use a grass-fed, salted butter for this recipe. I find that I usually have to add salt to taste anyway. The amount of salt will vary according to which brand of butter you use. But, if you want to use unsalted butter you absolutely can! It just means you’ll need to add more salt to the dish while cooking. Your call!
Serving your Purée
This carrot and caramelised onion purée is so versatile, it pairs well with just about anything! I often serve this when I make my boneless lamb shoulder roast with garlic, lemon and rosemary. To complete the dish, serve succulent slices of this lamb shoulder on a bed of this purée, with some buttery rainbow chard with candied walnuts. This is a dish to make when you want to impress!
This purée would also work beautifully tossed through a creamy risotto, as a filling for ravioli, or tossed through risoni. It also pairs well with roasted chicken, lamb cutlets, or any grilled or braised meats – the possibilities really are endless! It’s also a beautiful addition to the Christmas dinner table alongside your traditional roasted vegetables. Try it out as an alternative to roasted carrots! You can even serve this as a warm dip, served with crusty sourdough bread.
However you choose to serve this carrot and caramelised onion purée, I hope you enjoy this recipe! xxx
Carrot and Caramelised Onion Purée
Description
A buttery, luxurious, carrot and caramelised onion purée made with just four simple ingredients. A delicious, versatile side that goes with just about anything!
Ingredients
Method
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Place 100g of butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Once it's melted, keep stirring the butter until it's browned and smells of caramel. This should take around 5 minutes.
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Throw in your diced onions, with a small pinch of salt to help them soften.
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Once the onions are translucent and soft (around 2 minutes), throw in your carrots with a small pinch of salt. Stir, and once the carrots begin to soften, pop the lid on for roughly 10 minutes, or until they are soft enough to smush with the back of a spoon.
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Continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes until the carrot and onion are both nicely caramelised. Turn the heat off.
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Throw in your final 50g of butter. Use your immersion blender to blend the purée in your saucepan (or use a regular blender). If it is too thick and not blending well, add a few tablespoons of hot water to help everything come together. Don't add too much as you still want a smooth, spreadable consistency.
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Once smooth, adjust for salt, and serve immediately while hot. Enjoy!
Note
- You can use unsalted butter instead, if you like. When I use salted butter I have to add more salt to the dish anyway, but the amount will vary with the brand of butter you use. If using unsalted butter, you'll just need to add more salt to the final dish!
