Duo of Autumn Vegetable Puree

Directions

1. For the Potato and Roasted Garlic Purée: Pre-heat the oven to 400º F.
2. Remove the dry skin around the garlic head. Put on a chopping board and cut the top 1/4 inch off the garlic head so you can see the beggining of the cloves. Wrap the garlic head in aluminium foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
3. Open the aluminium foil and let the garlic cool. Separate the garlic cloves and squeeze the roasted garlic into a bowl. Mash very well with a fork and set aside.
4. While you roast the garlic, wash the potatoes very well, cut in half horizontally and put in a pan covering them with cold water. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and cook for 20 minutes or until a blade of a sharp knife goes smoothly through the potatoes. Try and have all the halves the same size so they cook at the same time.
5. When cooked, drain the potatoes and put each half, cut side down in a potato ricer fitted with the smaller wholes disk. Press to mash, open the handles and remove the skin. Continue until all the potatoes are finished. Always mash potatoes while still hot and never leave them in the cooking water.
6. Bring the milk and cream to a boil.
7. Put the mashed potatoes in a pan, add half the roasted garlic, and stir with a wooden spatula vigorously. Add the olive oil and follow by the hot milk and cream in a steady stream always mixing vigorously. Depending of the moisture level of the potatoes you might need less or more milk. Taste the potato garlic mash. If you like more garlic taste add more roasted garlic to your tasting. Season with salt. Set aside covering the purée with plastic film directly on top of the mash so it doesn't form a dry hard skin.
8. Lower the oven temperature to 375ºF. Line a baking tray with a large piece of aluminim foil and in the middle put some parchment paper.
9. Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them in small pieces, wash and put in a bowl covering them with cold water. Peel and remove the seeds from the squash, cut in small pieces, wash and put in a bowl. Peel the turnips, cut in pieces, wash them and put them in a bowl. When cutting the vegetables, try to keep the same size so they cook at the same time.
10. Drain the vegetables. Drizzle some olive oil on the parchment paper, add the 3 vegetables on top, layering with the saffron threads so they are in the middle of the vegetables, sprinkle a little salt, and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Finish with the rosemary sprigs. Seal the aluminium foil completely so the vegetables cook in their own juices and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
11. Open the aluminium foil, discard the rosemary sprigs and drain the vegetables reserving their cooking juices (they will have sweated some of their cooking juices). Mash the baked vegetables and saffron threads through a potato ricer or a hand held food mill.
12. Put in a pan over medium low heat and dry the vegetables stirring with a wooden spatula. Check the salt. You should have a very orange creamy mash, rather sweet. No need to add any more olive oil as the vegetables were cooked with olive oil. If you find the purée too dry, add a little of the cooking juices.
13. You should now have 2 sets of purées - a yellow savoury one of potatoes and roasted garlic finished with cream and milk and a second one, orange in colour and quite sweet, made with roasted squash, sweet potato, turnip and saffron, cooked with olive oil. They will have very distinct falvours.
14. Assemble the 2 mashed vegetables. Either serve them in seperate plates, garnished with freshly ground 5 peppercorn blend and a pinch of fleur de sel or use a metal ring and fill half with potato and roasted garlic mash and cover the other half with squash, sweet potato and turnip mash. Remove the ring, drizzle some olive oil around the purée, garnish with freshly ground 5 peppercorn blend and some fleur de sel.