When fresh herbs are on their last leg, chop them up and make a great herbed compound butter!
This lesson of compound butter I learned years ago not from some genius idea of making herbed butter but rather out of a panic of “Oh crap, I have 5 pounds of fresh basil and it’s turning bad before I can use it all!” EVERYTHING for like 2 weeks was heavy basil to the point I was sick of basil but I still had a ton of basil left. Now it wasn’t expensive but I didn’t want to waste it either. I just can’t waste food.
This concept of herbed or compound butter has been around for eons but honestly I forgot all about until I saw this one show on The Food Network for a steak with a thyme compound butter. I was like AH HA!!! YES! This is so easy and honestly you can do this with butter, (real or vegan). I would say margarine but honestly I haven’t used (or had) margarine since I was maybe 6 when Dad bought it by accident for Mom. Mom was not happy to say the least though I suspect it’s come a long way since then. Hopefully.
So how do you make compound butter? Easy – you need at least 2 things:
1/2 cup Softened butter – I tend to use unsalted
1 tablespoon Fresh Herbs – yes you can use dried but fresh herbs just have a more ‘fresh’ flavor… obviously. Plus it’s a great way to use up all those fresh herbs you have on hand that may be going bad faster than you can use it
Other stuff – if you want you can add other items such as a pinch of salt, maybe some cheese
To make this just softened the butter. No, don’t melt it but bring it to room temperature. Mince up the herbs and put it all together in a bowl. Using a spatula mix the butter and herbs until well combined. Next spread the mixture on either plastic wrap or freezer paper. You want to shape and roll this into a log or sausage. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Or if freezing, chill first then place in a freezer safe bag.
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