Are you ready to harvest some herbs? By now the herbs we started in the spring should be growing strongly and have good depth of flavor. Today let’s use them in a very simple way… herb butter! You can find herb butter in many restaurants across the nation used on steak, baked potatoes or simply spread on bread.
Ingredients –
- 1/2 cup real butter (should be soft but not melted)
- 2 Tb fresh parsley
- 2 Tb fresh rosemary
A word about butter… I love Costco butter in the big 1 lb packages as it has a great flavor to start with. I also like the Irish butter from Trader Joe’s. It is about 1/2 the cost of the same Irish butter from our local specialty market. Kerrigold is the brand used in the photos.
If you haven’t already, harvest the needed herbs from your herb garden taking care to leave some on the plant. You will want to use only the leaves not the stems or flowers. Use clean scissors or kitchen shears to harvest.
Don’t have enough on your plant? Don’t worry, fresh herbs from the farmer’s market or grocery store will work just fine. Using the kitchen shears or a chef’s knife chop the herbs finely.
Gently stir the herbs into the butter with a spoon.
Chill in a decorative dish or shallow pan (great for using a small scoop to serve). Here I wrapped the butter in plastic wrap to shape into a log for easy cutting and sharing. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before using. This butter is great for making a day ahead for better flavor.
After your meat is grilled (or roasted if you are using chicken) simply place a scoop or slice of your fabulous herb butter as you serve and enjoy!
Here are a couple of combinations for other butters.
- basil ribbons and garlic (crushed) — garlic bread
- oregano and basil and marjoram — Pasta Primavera with fresh veg
- cilantro and sweet hot peppers — steak fajitas
- sea salt and oregano — hot grilled corn or other vegs
Use the same process outlined above and get cooking! We hope you enjoy making herb butter. Please share your creative cooking herb butters with us in the comments.
Up next is tomato basil bruschetta, YUM!
