Chef Juliette
Choux Rouges à la Flamande
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Culinary Explorer
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Purée de Fèves
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2146, Purée de Fèves, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Broad beans become silk beneath the sieve, then take cold butter into a pale green gloss. This is the classical garnish for ham, scaled for one saucepan and a generous home table.
Side Dishes
French
Easter
Dinner Party
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
15 min cook•35 min total
Yield4 servings
Purée de fèves (silken broad-bean purée) teaches the difference between smooth and delicate. A machine can crush the beans, but only a sieve removes their stubborn jackets. Before you touch a pan, know this: the sieving is not fuss. It is the dish.
The original gave its cook one sentence because the method for purée of peas was already part of the kitchen's grammar. It assumed prep hands for shelling, a broad tamis (drum sieve) for service quantities, and a bain-marie holding the finished purée beside carved ham. Here, 500 grams of shelled beans feed four, a food processor does the first crushing, and a fine-mesh sieve replaces the great tamis. The machine is brigade scaffolding and can change; passing the beans through the sieve, drying the purée, and mounting it with butter must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Done properly, the purée is pale green and satin-fine, with enough body to hold the soft valley of a spoon. It should taste of broad beans first and butter second. Have the sieve waiting before you drain the beans, because passing them while they are hot is the step that matters most.
Purée de fèves belongs to French cuisine bourgeoise and the classical garnish repertoire rather than to one provincial larder; Parisian grand kitchens refined the household pot of broad beans by passing it through a tamis and serving it beside carved ham. In this usage, fèves means broad beans, or fava beans, not dried haricots, a distinction that preserves the purée's green color and spring delicacy. Its journey to the formal table changed the texture and service, not the pairing: the sweetness and faint bitterness of broad beans still answer cured pork beautifully.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
shelled fresh or frozen broad beans (fava beans)
Quantity
3 cups (710 ml / 500 g)
water
Quantity
2 quarts (1.9 liters / 1.9 kg)
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g)
for the cooking water
cold unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 56 g)
cut into 4 pieces
fine sea salt and ground white pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| shelled fresh or frozen broad beans (fava beans) | 3 cups (710 ml / 500 g) |
| water | 2 quarts (1.9 liters / 1.9 kg) |
| fine sea saltfor the cooking water | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g) |
| cold unsalted buttercut into 4 pieces | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 56 g) |
| fine sea salt and ground white pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •4-quart (3.8-liter) saucepan
- •Food processor or sturdy blender
- •Fine-mesh sieve, preferably 8 inches (20 cm) wide
- •Flexible silicone spatula or bowl scraper
Instructions
- 1
Cook Until Tender
Bring the water to a full boil in a roomy saucepan and add the measured salt. Drop in the broad beans and cook uncovered until they are completely tender, about 5 to 8 minutes for fresh beans or 4 to 6 minutes for frozen. Bright green is not enough; lift out one bean, let it cool briefly, and press it with a spoon. It should collapse without a chalky centre.
Do not stop at crisp-tender. A bean meant for salad may keep a little bite, but a bean meant for purée must surrender completely or the finished texture will remain grainy. - 2
Crush While Hot
Reserve 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) of the cooking water, then drain the beans thoroughly. Transfer them at once to a food processor and blend with 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) of the reserved water, adding only enough extra water to keep the blades moving. Stop when you have a thick, even paste. Too much liquid now only creates work at the stove.
- 3
Pass Through Tamis
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and force the hot bean paste through with a flexible spatula or the back of a ladle. Scrape the smooth purée from the underside and discard the dry skins and fibres left behind. If the paste cools and refuses to pass, warm it with 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) of the reserved cooking water. If it still feels fibrous afterward, pass it a second time. Ça se rattrape.
- 4
Dry the Purée
Return the sieved purée to a clean saucepan over medium-low heat. Dessécher, drying the purée over heat, for 2 to 4 minutes while stirring constantly, until excess moisture has gone and the spoon leaves a clear trail across the pan floor. If the purée is loose, keep stirring and let the water escape. If it becomes stiff enough to tear, loosen it with reserved cooking water a teaspoon at a time.
- 5
Mount With Butter
Take the pan off the heat. Monter au beurre, finish by emulsifying in the cold butter, one piece at a time, stirring until each disappears before adding the next. The purée should become glossy without turning oily. If butter begins to pool, stop adding it and beat in 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g) of hot cooking water, then continue off the heat. Season with fine salt and white pepper, spoon it generously into a warm serving dish, and take it to the table beside ham. À table!
Chef Tips
- •At Easter, frozen broad beans are often the better choice. They were picked tender and preserve their green flavor, while tired fresh pods can be starchy and bitter. If buying fresh, allow roughly 3 pounds (1.4 kg) of pods to yield the required 3 cups (710 ml / 500 g) of shelled beans.
- •The sieve is non-negotiable. A blender breaks the skins into smaller fibres but does not remove them; the tamis is what turns an ordinary bean mash into a delicate purée.
- •No cream or stock is needed here. They would mute the broad beans and loosen the clean pea-purée method specified by the source. Real butter supplies the richness, sheen, and final emulsion.
- •Ham remains the first companion, especially a baked or lightly glazed ham whose salt meets the beans' sweetness. Roast lamb is also good, but beside ham the purée explains itself.
Advance Preparation
- •Up to 1 day ahead, cook, crush, sieve, and dry the beans, but do not add the butter. Press parchment directly against the surface and refrigerate. Reheat gently with 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml / 15 to 30 g) of reserved cooking water, then mount with cold butter just before serving.
- •Once buttered, the purée may wait for about 30 minutes in a covered bowl set over barely warm water. Stir occasionally. A longer hot hold dulls its color, so for a dinner party, prepare the sieved base ahead and finish it when the ham rests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 135g)
Calories
205 calories
Total Fat
12 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
260 mg
Total Carbohydrates
20 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
9 g
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