As a kid, I never much cared for parsnips. My dad was wild about them, but I was unmoved, figuring if they were white and ended in “-nip,” they must somehow be related to turnips. And I was definitely not a fan of turnips.

It was Julia Child who turned me around. One time at a live demo, she made a parsnip puree, and I was blown away. Certainly there was no confusing this sweet, nutty, velvety puree with a stinky turnip.

How’d she do it? By reserving the liquid in which she cooked the parsnips, boiling it down until it became syrupy, then adding it back to the pureed parsnips. So simple, but such amazing results. This greatly decreases the wateriness that typically afflicts non-starchy vegetables when they’re pureed. Indeed, it thickens the puree. And it amps the flavor, too.