herb compound butter with edible flowers
Herb butters…A great, easy way to preserve the fresh goodness of your garden herbs and transform meals in minutes. Basically, any combination of herbs and butter you use, you can’t really go wrong, but below are a few of my favorite combinations.
Garden Herb Butter
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup herbs of your preference, finely chopped (I use sage, parsley, thyme, oregano and garlic)
cracked black pepper
Mash the softened sticks of butter in a bowl.
Add in the herbs, and pepper and mix well.
Scoop onto a piece of wax paper and shape into desired shape.
Place in refrigerator to harden or freeze to store.
(Makes 2 cups)
Incorporate Edible Flowers into your Butter
When summer is in full bloom here in the garden, I love to incorporate some edible flowers, both in my herbal mixture for the compound butter, as well as for decorating the butter itself.
Add edible flowers, along with your herbs of choice in the compound butter recipe above. Flowers like calendula petals, chive blossoms, violas, nasturtiums and borage are all great additions. If there are flowering herbs like dill, sage or thyme, those flowers can be added in as well.
Decorate your finished herb compound butter with edible flowers: A simple sprinkling of edible blooms like borage, nasturtiums, calendula, and violas, takes an already delicious herb butter and transforms it into something magical.
If you’re past your edible flower season, you can also use herbs like dill, thyme, oregano and sage to decorate your herb butter.
Shallot & Herb Butter
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup finely diced shallots
1/4 cup white wine
1/2-2/3 cup herbs of your preference, finely chopped (I use sage, parsley, thyme, oregano and garlic)
cracked black pepper
Place a tablespoon of butter into a saucepan and sauté the shallots until opaque.
Add the wine and continue to sauté until all the wine is absorbed by the shallots.
Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Mash the softened sticks of butter in a bowl.
Add in the shallots, herbs, and pepper and mix well.
Scoop into a piece of wax paper and shape into desired shape.
Place in refrigerator to harden or freeze to store.
(Makes 2 cups)
I always keep a few batches of this in the freezer for the holidays, as well for quickly zesting up roasted veggies, stir frys, potatoes and pasta.
LEMON BALM AND CHIVE BUTTER
Ingredients:
8T unsalted butter, room temperature
2T lemon balm, minced
1T chives, minced
1T chive blossom flowers
salt
pepper
Mash the softened stick of butter in a bowl.
Add in the lemon balm, chives, chive flowers and mix well.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Scoop into a piece of wax paper and shape into desired shape.
Place in refrigerator to harden or freeze to store.
(Makes 1 cup)
Steamed, grilled and roasted veggies love a drizzle of this herbed butter, as doe fish, poultry and pasta.