Herb Butter Recipes

Herb Butters

Here's a quick and easy recipe for herb butter that works great on grilled meat, chicken, fish, and especially steamed vegetables. If you want a great way to store and serve herb butter, check out the French Traditional Butter Bell Crock.

For more about cilantro and its uses...

Cilantro Herb Butter

Ingredients

4 tablespoon butter (½ stick)

¼ teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

¼ teaspoon finely minced garlic

Salt & pepper

In a small bowl, add the butter and let it soften. It should take at most 10 or 15 minutes to be workable. Add the lemon peel, cilantro, garlic, and mash with a fork—season with a bit of salt and pepper.

Add the butter on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll it up to form a 3 - 4-inch-long butter log. Stick it in the freezer to firm up. When ready to use it, take it out of the freezer and cut off thin coin-shaped pieces.

When I looked in the 'fridge for some cilantro to make herb butter to serve on grilled tuna, unfortunately, the cilantro didn't look so good and smelled worse. Fortunately, there was some leftover fresh tarragon, so I made a quick tarragon butter as follows.

Tarragon Herb Butter

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons finely chopped tarragon

1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice

Salt & pepper

As above, I let the butter soften, added the tarragon and lemon juice, seasoned with salt and pepper, and rolled it into a log. It only took about 10 minutes in the freezer to harden up and be ready to serve.

I grilled the tuna steaks and served them with two thin coins of tarragon butter. My wife loved it. There is enough butter left over that, I think. I will try it on a couple of sautéed chicken breasts tomorrow.

Have you ever been to New Orleans? If so, you may have heard of the popular restaurant Brennan's and their famous Bananas Foster. This recipe is based on the original dessert recipe and was created by Michael Roussel, the executive chef there.

Chef Michael Roussel's Brennan's Bananas Foster Butter

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter

½ large banana, mashed

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

½ teaspoon banana liqueur

Directions:

Whip all ingredients together until thoroughly blended. Place the mixture into the Butter Bell crock and serve. Recommended on hot French bread, pancakes, French toast, or your favorite sweet breakfast items.

This recipe comes from Jean Francois Meteigner of La Cachette in Los Angeles, CA.

Provençal Butter

Shopping List:

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

2 teaspoons finely chopped black olives

1 - ½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

Allow butter to soften. Sauté the rosemary for 10 seconds in a dab of butter, remove, and let cool. Mix all ingredients with a wire whisk until well combined. Fill the Butter Bell crock with the mixture and serve with French baguettes or freshly baked sourdough rolls.