Potatoes and pumpkin purè with crispy bacon

I come back to you holding a soul-warming dish, one of the most comfort foods worthy of this title. This 2020 began with an event that, if someone had predicted it to me, I would have laughed at him. Something happened that I didn’t think would ever happen. A fact that, if the “ghost of me past” had traveled through time until this January, seeing it with its own eyes would have considered it equally pure science fiction.
I became familiar with the enemy of a lifetime, with my arch rival, with the one who was not to be named in my presence: the cursed Vorwerk Thermomix. Not only that, I also had a crush with it and now I want it more than a little girl who, in the 80s, yearned for the “Easy-bakeoven” drooling in front of the TV commercial.
My focus on what I considered an infernal contraption was of the sort “step back Satan. Step back!”. I considered it a mere and useless replacement (even ugly and soulless) that would have robbed me of one of the things I prefer to do.
I was aware that in the best kitchens of haute cuisine it was a permanent guest – it had already been revealed to me that the levels of creaminess that it gives to sauces and velvety soups are unattainable with other appliances. But I thought it was a plus that I could easily give up in my daily life. And instead, once tested with tongue, I soon convinced myself of the opposite. An inauspicious epiphany rushed on January 7th.
It is useless to try to deny the appearance: as soon as I tasted the potatoes and pumpkin purè with crispy bacon which he had given birth to among his icy blades I opened my heart to him. Like Julia Roberts in In bed with the enemy.

I gave my Thermomix-aversion one last chance to get the better: try to replicate the recipe without the Thermomix.
The result? I won in terms of taste – and modesty, but in terms of velvety I had to surrender to the evidence: Thermomix 1 – Kristel 0.

In short – what I’m about to say – the first recipe of the year was inspired by the Thermomix Vorwerk. I took the recipe found in that online thing called Cookidoo and slightly reworked it (I don’t put the maple syrup in the purè even with a gun pointed at the temple). The result? A palatal orgasm halfway between a velvety and a puree that survives on the plate even without the Thermomix (but I want it anyway, of course.) Find out below!

We will accept considerations, advice, phrases from Thermomix haters who encourage me to desist from having it, insults from Thermomix addicted for having pronounced the name in vain. But also generous donations in € for your purchase will be welcome.

Potatoes and pumpkin purè with crispy bacon – the recipe

INGREDIENTS (serve 4 people)

• 10 slices of smoked bacon
• 60 g of chopped shallots
• 15 g + 30 g of butter
• 700 g of red potatoes (this variety has a floury dough and a little water is therefore perfect for mashed potatoes; common potatoes are also fine: the flavor
• will be equally delicious but the consistency will be more of a velvety than a puree) peeled and diced about 1 cm
• 200 g diced butternut / violin pumpkin pulp (about 1 cm)
• 140 g of vegetable broth
• 70 g of cooking cream
• salt, nutmeg, black pepper, dry ground ginger to taste

METHOD

1. Finely chop the shallot. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes together with 15 g of butter.
2. Then add the potatoes, pumpkin, vegetable broth, ginger, black pepper and nutmeg. Cook everything with a lid for 20 minutes on a low heat, stirring often.
3. A few minutes before the vegetables are completely cooked, heat a non-stick pan and roast the bacon until it becomes crispy. Put out the fire.
4. Once the vegetables are cooked, taste and season with salt. Combine the cooking cream and the remaining 30 g of butter. Puree with an immersion blender operated at maximum power.
5. Place the potatoes and pumpkin purè on top garnished with the bacon strips or the crunchy bacon. Serve immediately and enjoy it!