Herbed Butter

I wrote earlier about planting my own herbs and I was able to harvest them very soon after I brought them home from the market. I have transplanted them into bigger pots so that they can get bigger for me. I was pondering about what to do with the variety of herbs that I have and I read about making herb infused oils and butter. So… that’s what I did! And what a great payoff it has been already. Today, I used the herbed butter and basil to make bruschetta for dinner. It was the best bruschetta I’ve ever had or made myself.

Here are the herbs that I have planted so far, including basil that is not in the picture:

I found that there was no great way to store these herbs for an extended period of time, which is why I’ve decided to chop them up and mix them with some butter. I suppose you could chop them up, mix it with some olive oil and freeze them in ice cube containers, but I like butter more than olive oil anyday, LOL!

All you need is to have sticks of butter at room temperature and some herbs. You could use a single type of herb per stick, two types, or like me, I used everything except for chocolate mint.

The ratio of herbs to butter is 1 tablespoon to 1 stick of butter (equivalent to 1/4 pound or 1/2 cup). A little more herbs won’t hurt I suppose.

The chocolate mint is mixed with the butter on its own because that’s a dessert type of herb. I think it will go over excellent on toasted waffles or pancakes, YUM!

Simply mix chopped herbs and soft butter in a bowl and then roll them up in strips of wax paper to store. Secure the wax paper by twisting the ends of the butter log. Place the butter log in the freezer to solidify prior to using if desired.

There are plenty of resources online on making herbed butter and oils, but don’t let the instructions scare you. Just let your imagination run with herbs!

Herbed Butter Bruschetta

I have to say, this is the best bruschetta I’ve ever had, or made myself. I’m so glad that we’ve started planting our own herbs and this simple appetizer was using the herbed butter that I made myself using the first harvest of the herbs. I’ll write about making herbed butter in another post. This makes planting your own food so rewarding!

This recipe yields 6 pieces of bruschetta.

Ingredients

• 1 small French baguette, cut to 6 slices at an angle
• 6 garlic cloves, one clove per slice of bread
• Herbed butter
• 1 cup tomatoes, diced to about 1cm square
• 1/2 cup red onions, diced
• 2 pieces basil leaves, chopped
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 t salt
• Black pepper, freshly cracked
• 1 small lemon, juiced

Method

1. Roast whole garlic cloves in the oven at 400F degree for 15 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. Remove from oven, peel the skins off and mash garlic in a small bowl.
2. Spread mashed garlic generously over sliced baguette. Top baguette with a sliver of herbed butter. Broil in the oven at high until edges start to brown, about 3 minutes.
3. In a bowl, combine chopped tomatoes, onions, basil with olive oil, salt, freshly cracked black pepper and lemon juice.
4. Spoon tomato mixture on broiled baguette pieces. Best served with good red wine