Salmon 104 F Class

Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.

Grant Crilly

Digital scale

Breville Super Q™

Fine-mesh sieve

Watercress

Ice water

Salt

Xanthan gum

Pick and rinse watercress.

Blanch in a large pot of boiling water for 45 seconds.

Strain from the boiling water and plunge into an ice bath. Stir watercress in the ice bath to ensure even cooling.

Blanch watercress; chill immediately

Weigh the empty blender on your scale so that you can later weigh your purée without having to remove it from the blender.

Strain watercress from the ice bath and place into the blender.

Weigh an empty blender; put watercress into the blender

Check the weight of the purée before adding 0.1 percent by weight in xanthan gum.

Blend the purée with the xanthan gum until smooth. The xanthan gum will prevent the purée from separating and weeping.

NOTE: Because you’ll add a little water and/or ice along with the blanched watercress, it’s important to use the weight of the purée rather than the raw watercress.

Add xanthan; blend

For a thicker purée, blend in [g 15] (or about 6 percent by weight) of Ultra-Tex 3 during Step 3. To do this, put the blender on high so the UT3 won’t gum up your puree. 

Immediately after you drop the UT3 into the vortex, the purée will quickly thicken around the blade of the blender, giving you a false sense of doneness. Continue blending until the purée is homogenous throughout. This way, you can be sure you have thickened it enough.

In general, it’s typical to use 3–10 percent UT3 per entire yield of a particular recipe. For this method, we’ve found that about 6 percent works perfectly.

Ultra-Tex 3

How to make Watercress Pudding

Strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve.

If the purée will not be used promptly, vacuum-package it to eliminate oxygen and preserve the color.

Season with salt just before serving—leaving salt in the purée for too long will discolor it.

Strain; store or serve

That this versatile member of the mustard family belongs to the genus Nasturtium, derived from the Latin for “nose twister,” will come as no surprise to those familiar with watercress’s zing. (The edible flower commonly called nasturtium belongs to a different genus.) This pungent plant twists your nose, so to speak, when chewing or puréeing causes various enzymes to generate compounds that tickle your nerves and produce that zesty burning sensation in your nostrils. In fact, watercress’s pungency is not a taste or smell at all, but instead simply a nerve irritant the plant releases as a defense mechanism when its tissue is damaged. But that hasn’t stopped us from devouring the stuff—for one reason or another—for thousands of years. In addition to being possibly among the first greens known to be consumed by humans, watercress has long been valued for its perceived medicinal qualities. Ancient Greek soldiers reportedly used the raw leaf as a tonic during wartime; Romans believed it prevented baldness; European explorers used it to cure scurvy. In fact, watercress does pack a healthy punch with lots of vitamins A and C, iron, and other nutritious minerals, but alas, no true medicinal qualities have ever been confirmed. The ancient green’s pungent tang shines through in this simple recipe, made with a bit of xanthan gum for thickness. (You can forgo the xanthan gum if you want, but be warned: your purée will separate and run quickly without it.) The result? A silky, bright-green purée armed with a sexy bite, perfect for accompanying fatty proteins like salmon or pork belly.For a more viscous version (which we like to call Watercress Pudding), blend in 15 grams of Ultra-Tex 3. This recipe works with other greens as well—we like to use equal parts mint and cilantro to create vibrant green layer in our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/butternut-buttermilk-parfait">Butternut Parfait</a>.

Watercress Purée