Herbal butters lend a variety of flavorful additions to your culinary endeavors. Use them to spice up meat, fish and vegetable dishes, add savory flavor to breads, or to season pasta, rice or couscous. The possible combinations are only limited to your imagination! You can even freeze the butter in ice cube trays or molds for later use or to make a pretty presentation. Frozen butter is also sometimes easier to work with when making certain dishes like Chicken Kiev, which calls for herbed butter in the center of rolled chicken breast.
The only “rule” when it comes to making herbal butters is to start out with unsalted butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Also, you can use fresh herbs if you wish. But if you use dried, let the butter rest in the refrigerator for an hour or so before to “marry” the flavors.
Greek Style Herbal Butter
Try this over pasta!
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- ¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
- 2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
Garlic & Chive Butter
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons dried chives
Herbal Butter Blend for Beef
This is delicious over grilled filet mignon or roast beef. To incorporate the pine nuts and cheese, mix this blend in a food processor for one minute.
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon each rosemary, basil, parsley and thyme
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese, grated
Italian Herbed Butter
Perfect on roasted chicken, pasta or rice.
French Fine Herbs Butter
This blend is great for grilled fish and vegetables.
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 1 teaspoon each basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, savory, tarragon, crushed fennel seed, lavender flowers.
