Continuing our lesson on making compound butter, today we are making herb garlic butter. This is a very delicious, savory butter. The Citrus Tarragon we made yesterday could be used on sandwiches or even waffles. I would not use the herb garlic we are making today on waffles. This is good butter to use on steamed vegetables; on steaks, chicken, pork, even on salmon. This is a good all-around butter that you might want to keep in the freezer at all times.
The second in our series is Herb Garlic Butter. Here is the recipe:
Herb Garlic Butter
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon heavy cream
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
Pinch of salt and white pepper
Directions:
The second in our series is Herb Garlic Butter. Here is the recipe:
Herb Garlic Butter
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon heavy cream
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
Pinch of salt and white pepper
Directions:
- Add all ingredients to a large glass or steel mixing bowl. Using an electric hand mixer, beat all ingredients until well incorporated and fluffy.
- Place a medium-sized piece of plastic wrap onto a clean, flat surface. Gather the butter together in the bowl and then place onto the center of the plastic wrap.
- Grab the bottom of the plastic wrap and pull it up over the butter and begin rolling and forming into a log or a square or rectangular shape. Whatever suits you. Twist the ends of the plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to set.
See below as we go through this step-by-step.
Today we are going to start our recipe for herb garlic butter with two sticks of butter, sliced, and one tablespoon of heavy cream in a large stainless steel bowl. Use a large, deep bowl whenever you are mixing with the hand mixer. When I first started working in the kitchen I would use shallow bowls and I found that I always ended up with an enormous mess to clean up after using the electric hand mixer in a shallow bowl. If you use a deep bowl, even when mixing a small amount, everything stays inside the bowl and not all over your cabinets.
We separated two cloves of garlic from the garlic head.
The cloves of garlic with the skin removed.
I used a garlic press to prepare the garlic for the mixture. These cloves were a little too large to fit in the press, so I cut them in half width-wise.
To the butter and cream, add your minced garlic. If you do not have a garlic press, you must get one today. They are just wonderful little contraptions to have. You place the garlic inside the barrel and squeeze the handle and out comes minced garlic. Just take the backside of a paring knife and scrape the minced garlic off the garlic press and into the bowl.
These are the skins of each half of the garlic cloves. These are the tough, outer parts that are left in the garlic press after it has been minced. You can toss them in the trash or drop them in your composter.
We are almost there! Butter, cream and garlic are all in the bowl.
Next, we will add fresh rosemary. I like rosemary. It works perfectly in this butter.
Remove a stalk of rosemary from the container and, starting at the top of the stem, pull backward with your index and middle finger and thumb to remove the leaves.
Here is what you will have once you are done. Now give these a good chop with a sharp knife until they are finely chopped.
The rosemary should look similar to this picture when you are done. Don't fret over getting them too finely chopped. I would say you do not want any whole pieces of rosemary in the butter, so make certain every leaf has been chopped.
In with the rosemary.
Now, we add the thyme. Again, a favorite herb of mine.
Here are our thyme leaves. We are going to remove them from the stems in the same manner as with the thyme but with one small change.
The stems of thyme are less woody than those of rosemary. They are, in fact, more delicate. Where we were able to start at the very end of the rosemary stems and pull backward to remove all the leaves, we will not be able to do that with thyme. The stems are very fragile as we get closer to the stem end. If you attempt to pull off all the leaves right from the end, the stem will break and you will be frustrated. Use my example above as a guide to where to place your fingers and thumb to start removing the leaves. Start about an inch down the stem. Using this method is so much easier than trying to clean the stem completely of its leaves. You can toss the stems with the few extra leaves left on them or place them in the composter.
Here we have all the ingredients in the bowl to make herb garlic butter. You will use your electric hand mixer with clean mixing blades to mix this together until fluffy.
And here we have a wonderful round of herb garlic cheese to serve our guests. These little pedestals are so pretty and the perfect size for these butters.
Into the refrigerator to keep until time for company. Take them out about an hour before everyone arrives. These are all wrapped in cling wrap. I am photographing them and letting you see them unwrapped for the blog. You could remove them from the refrigerator, wrapped, and place them on the pedestal plates and sit them on your buffet table for an hour. As soon as the first couple arrives, have your greeter meet them at the door. You and the kitchen staff can start unwrapping the butters in preparation for the evening. Everyone will want a cocktail first and then they will make their way to the buffet table. Serve these butters on the little pedestal stands indoors only. If you are having an affair out-of-doors, you may serve compound butter, but do so in a container with a hinged lid. You will never be able to keep the winged critters off of them otherwise.
So there you have it. Day two of compound butters. Tomorrow will bring a sweet butter that, quite honestly, was and is my favorite of the three I made. I suppose that is why I have saved it for last. You do not want to miss tomorrow's post.
Today we are going to start our recipe for herb garlic butter with two sticks of butter, sliced, and one tablespoon of heavy cream in a large stainless steel bowl. Use a large, deep bowl whenever you are mixing with the hand mixer. When I first started working in the kitchen I would use shallow bowls and I found that I always ended up with an enormous mess to clean up after using the electric hand mixer in a shallow bowl. If you use a deep bowl, even when mixing a small amount, everything stays inside the bowl and not all over your cabinets.
We separated two cloves of garlic from the garlic head.
The cloves of garlic with the skin removed.
I used a garlic press to prepare the garlic for the mixture. These cloves were a little too large to fit in the press, so I cut them in half width-wise.
To the butter and cream, add your minced garlic. If you do not have a garlic press, you must get one today. They are just wonderful little contraptions to have. You place the garlic inside the barrel and squeeze the handle and out comes minced garlic. Just take the backside of a paring knife and scrape the minced garlic off the garlic press and into the bowl.
These are the skins of each half of the garlic cloves. These are the tough, outer parts that are left in the garlic press after it has been minced. You can toss them in the trash or drop them in your composter.
We are almost there! Butter, cream and garlic are all in the bowl.
Next, we will add fresh rosemary. I like rosemary. It works perfectly in this butter.
Remove a stalk of rosemary from the container and, starting at the top of the stem, pull backward with your index and middle finger and thumb to remove the leaves.
Here is what you will have once you are done. Now give these a good chop with a sharp knife until they are finely chopped.
The rosemary should look similar to this picture when you are done. Don't fret over getting them too finely chopped. I would say you do not want any whole pieces of rosemary in the butter, so make certain every leaf has been chopped.
In with the rosemary.
Now, we add the thyme. Again, a favorite herb of mine.
Here are our thyme leaves. We are going to remove them from the stems in the same manner as with the thyme but with one small change.
The stems of thyme are less woody than those of rosemary. They are, in fact, more delicate. Where we were able to start at the very end of the rosemary stems and pull backward to remove all the leaves, we will not be able to do that with thyme. The stems are very fragile as we get closer to the stem end. If you attempt to pull off all the leaves right from the end, the stem will break and you will be frustrated. Use my example above as a guide to where to place your fingers and thumb to start removing the leaves. Start about an inch down the stem. Using this method is so much easier than trying to clean the stem completely of its leaves. You can toss the stems with the few extra leaves left on them or place them in the composter.
Here we have all the ingredients in the bowl to make herb garlic butter. You will use your electric hand mixer with clean mixing blades to mix this together until fluffy.
And here we have a wonderful round of herb garlic cheese to serve our guests. These little pedestals are so pretty and the perfect size for these butters.
Into the refrigerator to keep until time for company. Take them out about an hour before everyone arrives. These are all wrapped in cling wrap. I am photographing them and letting you see them unwrapped for the blog. You could remove them from the refrigerator, wrapped, and place them on the pedestal plates and sit them on your buffet table for an hour. As soon as the first couple arrives, have your greeter meet them at the door. You and the kitchen staff can start unwrapping the butters in preparation for the evening. Everyone will want a cocktail first and then they will make their way to the buffet table. Serve these butters on the little pedestal stands indoors only. If you are having an affair out-of-doors, you may serve compound butter, but do so in a container with a hinged lid. You will never be able to keep the winged critters off of them otherwise.
So there you have it. Day two of compound butters. Tomorrow will bring a sweet butter that, quite honestly, was and is my favorite of the three I made. I suppose that is why I have saved it for last. You do not want to miss tomorrow's post.
