Making and Using Fresh Herb Butter

Making and using fresh herb compound butter from your own grown herbs is simple, fun to do, and the sensible thing!

Fresh Herb Butter
by Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
6.17.14

One of the wonderful things about summer, at least for me, is having a patio full of containers of fresh herbs. They provide much of my needed seasoning during the warm weather months.

Some of my herbs growing outside

An excellent way to use the herbs is by making a fresh herb butter, which is also known as a compound butter. Of course, this makes an excellent spread for your freshly baked breads and dinner rolls, but it does have its other uses!

Among the great things you can do with herb butter:

Place a pat of butter on top of a grilled steak just as it is getting done and let it melt
Rub the skin of poultry with softened butter, working it underneath the skin to add flavoring while roasting
Use on your favorite corn on the cob
Cook your scrambled eggs in a pat or two
Stir into mashed potatoes for an additional layer of flavor
Use when cooking fish and seafood
Top your favorite steamed vegetables with herb butter

The ideas are limitless.

I use a variety of herbs when I make herb butter. Often I go out and clip the tops so they don’t flower and bolt, and clipping helps them bush and branch better as well. A great use for those little bits of herbs is herb butter and garnishes.
Among the herbs I use are thyme, rosemary, sweet basil, dill weed, tarragon, parsley, chives and lovage. You can use others as well, depending on the flavors you like best. Use just one or mix and match.

I add garlic and Parm as well to round out the flavor. Occasionally I might add a touch of lemon zest to it, especially if I want to use the herb butter with cooked fish and seafood.

Fresh Herb Butter

Servings: 8
Time: 15mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup chopped herbs
1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
waxed paper

Method:

Mix herbs and salt into the soft butter.
Shape butter into a log and place on wax paper; fold wax paper over and use the paper to shape the butter without getting your fingers messy; crimp ends and secure with a twisite tie.
Another option is to put the butter into butter molds (if you have them, but most people do not) and chill until firm, then turn out onto butter plate.
Refrigerate wax roll of butter until firm, or place butter inside wax paper inside a ziplock freezer bag and freeze until needed.
Slice and serve.