Simple Carrot Sauce

This is another “vegetable as sauce” recipe, and is simpler than the others, both in method and ingredients. This was first made to go on roasted cabbage but is really nice on other things. See notes.

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 Chantenay carrots (enough to yield 2 cups), cleaned and sliced into ¼ inch rounds

¼ cup minced white or yellow onion

1 medium clove garlic, peeled, left whole

2 ounces white wine such as verdhelho, grenache blanc, sauvignon blanc

2 sprigs fresh marjoram, left whole

1 small sprig fresh thyme, left whole

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon sugar, or as needed

2-3 tablespoons butter (you can use a mild olive oil if you prefer, but butter really is better here), or as needed

Water as needed

METHOD:

Heat a 2½ or 3 quart chef’s pan or saute pan over medium-low heat. When the pan is hot, add a tablespoon of butter to the pan and as soon as it stops foaming, add the onions. Cook, tossing often to prevent any browning, until the onions are translucent. Add the wine and cook until the wine reduces by 50%.

Add the carrots and toss to coat with butter/wine. Season with salt and pepper. Add a little butter if needed. Sauté, tossing frequently to keep anything from browning, just until you smell the carrots. Add water to just cover the carrots, and then add the herbs and garlic clove.

Reduce heat to low and gently simmer the carrots until very tender. You should be able to crush a slice between thumb and forefinger with little effort. Taste a carrot – if it is not sweet and tastes mineral-y, add ½ a teaspoon of sugar and swirl into the cooking liquid. Taste a little of the liquid and see if it tastes sweeter the carrot did. Adjust the flavor of the water to be just a little sweet as if the carrots you are using were sweeter than they are.  Remove the carrots to a blender or food processor.

Reduce carrot cooking liquid to 1 cup. Discard herbs, keep liquid warm and bring to the blender. Add a ¼ cup of cooking liquid and the garlic clove to blender and put the lid on. Starting on low, blend carrots to a puree. If the carrots are not moving, add liquid until they do. Turn up the speed and puree carrots. Drizzle in a little liquid at a time until the carrots are moving freely. Puree, adding a little more liquid at a time as needed until the puree has reached a sauce-like consistency, but is light bodied.

When the carrots are a light sauce-like consistency, cut 1 tablespoon of butter into pea-sized bits. When carrots reach the above sauce-like state, and are still hot, add the butter bits to the blender while on and blend in. Taste sauce for balance- salt and pepper may need adjusting, or a little sugar may be wanting. A touch of a vinegar such as sherry or white balsamic may be what is called for to wake the sauce up. To tell, put a drop of vinegar on a spoonful of sauce and taste. If that seems to be just right, add a few drops at a time to the sauce and stir in and then taste until you get what you are looking for. Add more butter if you want a smoother flavor. The consistency of the sauce should be soft, but not runny. If you put a dollop on a plate it should remain as is, or perhaps slowly spread out. If you give the plate with the dollop of sauce on it a sharp tug, and the sauce will spreads bit but that is it, you have the perfect consistency. The sauce is ready to use.

Chef’s Notes: You can flavor this sauce in many ways other than what is here. Try ginger juice and use orange juice instead of wine. Use cumin and coriander seed with cilantro instead of the herbs. Curry powder or Ras el Hanout work too, and if you have kala jeera it is quite surprising in a very pleasant way. Use this sauce on fish, chicken, and rabbit as well as on other brassicas such as broccoli and cauliflower.