Chef Z is incurably passionate about FOOD

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Almost any vegetable, meat, fish or egg dish can easily be dressed up with the addition of a simple and easy butter sauce or compound butter. Here are some of my favorites.
 

SHALLOT BUTTER WINE SAUCE –

serve with asparagus, white meats, poultry, roasted vegetables and poached egg dishes. Makes 1/2 cup. which serves 8.


2 large Shallots, peeled and minced

1/2 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth

black pepper to taste

4 Tbsp. butter, unsalted

salt to taste

 

1. Add shallots and wine to heavy saucepan and bring to the boil, shake pan until most of the wine evaporates to about 50% of the original quantity (do not burn shallots);

2. Remove pan from heat and cool 3 minutes, stir (do not return pan to heat);

3. Add butter 1 Tbsp. at a time and whisk to emulsify. Serve immediately.

Variation: add lemon zest OR minced fresh herbs of choice

 

CUMBERLAND SAUCE

serve with grilled or roasted red meats or game, or grilled fruit kabobs. Makes 1 cup.

 

1 orange, zested and juiced

1 cup red wine, Madeira or Port

2 Tbsp. Powdered sugar (if using dry wine)

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

½ cup currant jelly (or hot pepper jelly)

dash cayenne or powdered ginger (candied ginger is fine, just mince)

 

1     Peel orange and cut into fine strips to make zest;

2     squeeze orange, reserving juice;

3     Simmer zest in red wine until reduced by 2/3 volume;

4      Add orange juice, lemon juice, jelly and cayenne or ginger. Stir gently;

5     Serve when jelly melts.

Variation: add 1 tsp. prepared Dijon style mustard

 

 

CLASSIC COMPOUND BUTTERS

 

HERB BUTTER, ANCHOVY BUTTER, EDIBLE FLOWER BUTTER, GARLIC BUTTER, BALSAMIC BUTTER, STRAWBERRY BUTTER

 

The standard method for making compound butters is to take one stick of unsalted butter and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes until malleable. Place in a shallow bowl and press against the sides of the bowl with a wooden spoon. Add 1 Tbsp. Olive oil and mix to combine. Adding the oil keeps the butter from breaking into small pieces when cut.

 

Then, cut herbs of your choice into thin strands (chiffonade cut) and add to the butter for creating herb butters. Any fresh herb except rosemary should work, and dried herbs work also. Add a dash of salt and mix the herbs into the butter with the spoon. Place on a piece of saran wrap and roll up into a log shape. Freeze until solid, then unwrap and cut into 1/2” thick pats. Place on a serving plate and allow to come to room temperature or cover with saran wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. These  butters will lose their flavors easily, so freeze for up to a month for best results.

 

For creating compound butters that utilize liquids instead of herbs, such as balsamic vinegar, whiskey, or mustard….add butter and oil to a food processor and then add your salt and liquid, then pulse to combine and place on plastic wrap and roll up as described above. You can also add a tsp. of minced shallots to any of these for enhanced flavor. These butters are great over grilled meats.

More great compound butters include anchovy butter, horseradish butter or Wasabi butter. And I’ve made strawberry butter for serving with muffins and bagels. Just cut up the washed strawberries and add to the butter with a dash of salt and sugar. And finally, when making EDIBLE FLOWER BUTTER, use only edible flowers found at the grocery store which have not been sprayed with insecticides. Not all flowers are edible, so just stick to pansies, violas, nasturtium and daylilies if you are not sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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