Chef Juliette
Stuffed Onions
Oignons farcis teach the discipline of the shell: mild onions hollowed without weakness, filled with their own flesh and Duxelle, braised in butter and stock, then glazed until the tops bronze.
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Purée de Pimentos
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2200, Purée de Pimentos, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Purée de Pimentos turns red peppers and precisely measured rice into a loose, butter-glossed accompaniment for poached fowl, proving that a purée succeeds by how it moves, not how high it stands.
Side Dishes
French
Dinner Party
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
50 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield4 servings (about 2 cups / 475 ml)
Purée de Pimentos (silken red-pepper and rice purée) teaches a precise lesson: a purée meant for poached fowl must flow. The rice gives body, but the finished purée should settle into a glossy pool rather than stand in a mound. Keep it thin. That is the one true thing to know before the pan comes out.
The old entry assumed a saucier, a broad tamis, and a quantity measured by the quart; a stockpot never off the fire might have supplied braising moisture without even being named. This version uses water because the entry calls for no referenced stock, a 2-quart saucepan in place of the brigade pot, and a sturdy fine-mesh sieve in place of the tamis. A salamander has no work here, because nothing is browned. The batch is reduced to 225 grams of trimmed pepper and 150 grams of rice, preserving the original ratio exactly. The scale changed, not the method.
The broad tamis and brigade volume are scaffolding and can go. Braising the pepper with two-thirds its weight in rice, rubbing the whole through a sieve, and monter au beurre (finishing by whisking in butter) at two ounces per quart are the dish and must stay. The decisive moment is the final thinning: if the rice turns it pasty, ça se rattrape with hot water, spoonful by spoonful, until the purée flows again.
Purée de pimentos belongs not to Provence but to the classical Parisian sauce-and-garnish repertoire, where fine vegetable purées were composed around the poached poultry and pale meats they accompanied. Its surprising proportion of rice, two-thirds the trimmed weight of the peppers, was not economy filler; it gave the pepper enough body to be sieved silky while remaining mild beside delicate meat. The dish traveled from the saucier's bench to the bourgeois table because a sieve and saucepan could reproduce the essential work, and its proper thinness distinguishes it from a standalone mashed side dish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
red bell peppers
Quantity
1 large and 1 small (about 2 cups / 225 g trimmed)
stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
plain white rice, preferably short-grain
Quantity
¾ cup (180 ml / 150 g)
water
Quantity
2 cups (475 ml / 475 g), plus up to ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) as needed
additional water kept hot
fine sea salt
Quantity
¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml / 4 g), plus more to taste
cold unsalted butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
cut into pieces
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| red bell peppersstemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced | 1 large and 1 small (about 2 cups / 225 g trimmed) |
| plain white rice, preferably short-grain | ¾ cup (180 ml / 150 g) |
| wateradditional water kept hot | 2 cups (475 ml / 475 g), plus up to ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) as needed |
| fine sea salt | ¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml / 4 g), plus more to taste |
| cold unsalted buttercut into pieces | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Digital kitchen scale
- •Heavy 2-quart saucepan with a tight-fitting lid
- •8-inch sturdy fine-mesh sieve
- •Firm silicone spatula or wooden spoon
- •Whisk
Instructions
- 1
Keep the exact ratio
Weigh the peppers after removing their stems, seeds, and white ribs; you need 225 grams. Weigh out exactly two-thirds that amount in rice, 150 grams. If your trimmed peppers weigh differently, calculate the rice from that trimmed weight rather than forcing the peppers to fit the recipe. Do not rinse the rice, because its surface starch helps give the purée its proper body.
The proportion is the recipe's architecture: three parts trimmed pepper to two parts dry rice by weight. Keep it whenever you scale the batch. - 2
Braise at a tremble
Put the sliced peppers, rice, 1¾ cups (415 ml / 415 g) of the water, and the salt into a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Bring them just to a boil over medium heat, then immediately lower the heat, cover, and hold the mixture at a quiet tremble for 35 to 45 minutes. Stir from the bottom every 8 to 10 minutes. If the pan threatens to catch before the rice has softened, add the reserved water a tablespoon at a time and lower the heat; do not wait for a scorch, because burnt rice cannot be hidden by a sieve.
- 3
Cook beyond tender
Judge the mixture by texture, not by the clock. The pepper skins should collapse under the spoon, and the rice grains should be swollen, splitting, and soft enough to smear between two fingers without a hard centre. If either remains firm, add a little hot water, cover, and continue for 5 to 10 minutes. If the mixture is soupy once everything is fully soft, simmer it uncovered for a few minutes; it should resemble loose porridge, not broth and not dough.
- 4
Pass through the sieve
Set a sturdy fine-mesh sieve over a wide bowl and work the hot pepper-and-rice mixture through it in small batches with a firm silicone spatula or wooden spoon. Press, scrape, and turn until only dry pepper skins and stubborn fibres remain, then scrape the smooth purée from the underside of the sieve. A blender is not the equivalent here: it retains the skins and can work the rice into glue. If the sieve clogs, loosen the next batch with a spoonful of hot water. Ça se rattrape.
- 5
Monter au beurre
Measure the sieved purée and return it to a clean saucepan over low heat. The expected yield is about 2 cups (475 ml). If it pours like water, reduce it gently before adding the butter. Then monter au beurre, whisking in 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) cold butter for every cup (240 ml) of purée; for the expected yield, use all 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g). Add the butter piece by piece and do not boil afterward. If a greasy film appears, take the pan off the heat and whisk in a teaspoon of hot water until the purée becomes glossy again.
- 6
Thin and serve
Taste for salt, then judge the movement. The purée should leave the spoon in a broad ribbon and level itself almost at once. If it sits in a mound, whisk in hot water one tablespoon at a time; the rice will continue tightening as it waits. Spoon a shallow pool onto a warmed platter and arrange poached fowl or another white meat against it, or pass the purée from a warmed sauce bowl. It supports the meat rather than standing alone. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose heavy, fully red bell peppers with taut skins and thick flesh. Jarred roasted peppers bring char, acid, and often oil, all of which change the quiet character of this purée; use fresh peppers here.
- •When scaling, weigh the trimmed peppers first and use rice equal to two-thirds that weight. Cooking well is not cooking fancy, but this proportion is not negotiable.
- •Use a rigid fine-mesh sieve rather than a delicate tea strainer. Passing the mixture takes a few determined minutes, and that pressure removes the pepper skins while making the rice and flesh completely smooth.
- •Serve it with poached chicken, turkey, veal, or a gently roasted pork loin. A restrained dry white Burgundy suits the sweet pepper and butter without overwhelming the pale meat.
Advance Preparation
- •Braise and sieve the pepper-and-rice base up to 24 hours ahead. Because it contains cooked rice, spread it in a shallow container, cool it within 2 hours, cover, and refrigerate. Reheat it gently with a little water, then monter au beurre shortly before serving.
- •A finished, buttered purée keeps for 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheat it over low heat, whisking in hot water until it flows again; never let it boil or the butter may separate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 130g)
Calories
205 calories
Total Fat
6 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
440 mg
Total Carbohydrates
33 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
3 g
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