Take your next bite to another level with compound butter!  A simple way to enhance your meal without much work.

Compound butters have been around forever and the best part is that they are customizable to what you have on hand and what type of meal you want to enhance.

We happen to have an abundance of chives and rosemary from the herb garden this year.  A t-bone steak (won at a meal raffle) was the main course with sautéed mushrooms and asparagus.   The combination of a butter basted steak with this herbed butter is a winning one.

Quick tips:

• Make sure your butter is at room temperature for easy mixing (unless you want to grow some arm muscles mixing cold butter).
• Mash the butter and spread it out and up the sides of a bowl.  This makes it easier for all of the butter to get touched by the dry seasonings like salt, and the herbs.  Then stir to combine.
• Let sit for about 30 minutes before using to let the herb flavor make it into the butter.
• This can last in the fridge (sealed or covered) for about 1-2 weeks based on herb discoloration over time.

There are many different options for compound butters:

• Herbs, any combo: parsley, chives, sage, cilantro, tarragon, rosemary, mint, oregano, basil, thyme, any all others.
• Brighten it up: vinegar or citruses, like balsamic, white wine or red wine vinegar, specialty flavors vinegar, champagne vinegar, and many more.  Fresh lemon or lime zest and juice. Just a splash at a time to elevate the butter to your taste.
• Looking for spice, add your favorite pepper diced, like jalepeno, red chili, or habanaro. Even dried roasted red pepper flakes are a great compliment. Pair with herbs like parsley, mint, or cilantro.
• Sweeten it up with honey or agave.  Or sweet heat with hot honey.
• Indulge by mixing with a red wine reduction and thyme.  Or vermouth with diced olives and dill (martini compound butter).

As mentioned, this topped a beautiful steak this last week.  But as you can see with the options above, just like butter makes everything better, just about everything can be added to make butter even better!  Enjoy!

Chive Rosemary Butter

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick),at room temperature
• 1/4 cup chives, minced
• 2 Tbls fresh rosemary, minced
• Kosher Salt to taste (approx 1-2 tsp)

Preparation:

Spread room temperature butter up the sides of bowl. Sprinkle salt over the butter, starring with 1 tsp.  Then add minced herbs.  Stir to combine.  Taste, add more salt if needed. If not serving right away, store in fridge.  Take out 30 minutes before using to come back to room temperature.

Happy Herbing!!!

*Experimental Spoon Original.