Name: Aromatic Arracacha (Apio) Puree
Yield: Serves 4 as a side dish
Ingredients: 1 cup rich vegetable or chicken broth; 5 whole allspice berries; 6 ajíes dulces or ½ small green bell pepper, sliced; 2 coriander (cilantro) stalks; About 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter; White parts of 6 scallions (green onions), sliced; Optional: 1 shallot, sliced; 4 cloves; About 3½ pounds arracacha; 1 small cinnamon stick, broken in half; 6 peppercorns; About 1½ teaspoons kosher salt; 1 star anise “flower”; 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a side dish

Appears in

Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini

By Elizabeth Schneider

Published 2001

About

When simmered with spices, pressed through a mill, and then whipped with seasoned stock, the gnarled beastie arracacha turns soufflé-soft. Suave, spoonable, light-bodied, the yellow puree can take the place of winter squash dishes—although it is quite different.

Maricel Presilla, who kindly loaned this recipe from her forthcoming book about the foods of Latin America, lightly underscores the vegetab