Compound butter refers to butter that has been mixed with different herbs or spices. They are a quick and easy way to bring your dishes up to the next level which can be made with minimal effort and stored in the freezer for months.
As I have been cultivating Rosemary in my own herb garden, here is the recipe for Rosemary Butter which I made, using leaves from my most recent harvest.
Ingredients
- 1kg of unsalted butter
- 8-10 long twigs of Rosemary
- 150g of garlic
- 2 tsp of salt
- 2 tsp of grounded black pepper
Cooking Method
- Leave your unsalted butter block to defrost in its original wrapping on the kitchen counter for 4-6 hours or until you can easily cut it using a silicone spatula.
- Wash 8-10 long twigs of Rosemary, flick off excess water, and leave them to air dry for around 4-6 hours.
- Strip the needles from the Rosemary stems by snipping them off at the end, paying special attention to avoid having the stem as much as possible.
- Dry blend or finely chop the needles until you have 6 tsp of the end product, leaving aside the remaining needles for garnishing.
- Peel your garlic, paying special attention to removing the entire end of the germs, before dry blending them.
- Combine all the ingredients inside a large mixing bowl and manually fold them together until well mixed.
- Portion out into shallow containers and garnish with remaining needles.
This recipe can be reduced accordingly based on the amount of ingredients you have on hand. I generally split them into 200 grams servings which makes it sufficient for an average family to use for 1-2 months. This allows the rest to be stored in the freezer to ensure its freshness.
Pro Tip:
While the herbs do make a difference, the star of this recipe is the type of butter that you use. Personally, I prefer to use Flechard unsalted french butter as they came in 1kg blocks at Phoon Huat outlets in Singapore, and also in 200g sticks at large supermarkets.
The reason I prefer Flechard is that it has a very buttery aftertaste, very stable to work with. and a pleasant light yellow shade which makes it more attractive than many other brands.
— Terrence Quah