There is a large part of me that lives for entertaining. The time and preparation put into curating the perfect menu and the realization of happy friends and family enjoying the meal. But there lives the other part of me that is the focused business person who has a drive to get things done.

This item was a combination of the two. I was on LinkedIn for work and came across a post from a ‘zero-waste’ chef about all the different things that could be done with chives. The same day, in the back of my mind, there was intermittent thoughts and ideas the menu when my book club friends were coming over.

There was not a theme, except for ‘it’s summer’ and ‘let’s have some small bites for apps’ and ‘we have a smoker, butter and a whole lot of chives in the herb garden.’ So, the apps came together with Roasted Garlic Scape & Basil dip, Figs with Manchego Cheese and Pan Roasted Walnuts, and this amazing Smoked Chive Butter with Bread.

To make the butter was simple, smoking it was the fun part (and took the longest time), and I got to use up a good chunk of chives in the process. Time to get replacement wood chips for my handheld smoker.

Smoked Chive Butter

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of room tempurature salted sweet cream butter
• 1/2 cup minced fresh chives
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp honey
• Smoking gun and dome

Preparation:

Combine the first three ingredients in a bowl and stir together. Add the honey and stir until that is combined.

Place butter on waxed paper and set up smoking gun and dome. Use the directions from your gun for set up and use.

Place the dome over the butter and smoke for 25 minutes. For us, that was using two fills of the gun and filling the dome with smoke four times.

Roll butter up in the wax paper and place in fridge for 12 hours or overnight. Remove from fridge 60 minutes before serving to soften for spreading.

Happy Smoking!!!

*Experimental Spoon Original