Basil Garlic Butter
I felt sorry for this grocery store basil plant in February, so I bought it and brought it home. I figured it would start to wilt and I’d just clip it down and dry the leaves. Well… it thrived. I gave it a haircut and had 1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves. (And it’s still growing strong!)
I remembered watching chef Alex Guarnaschelli make basil garlic butter for something… pasta? For basting chicken? I dunno. It sounded delicious! So with that vague memory, I made some.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt (may omit if you use salted butter
- 6 cloves garlic, minced (ahem… I used more. That’s a guess.)
Process all ingredients in food processor until very smooth. Scrape and remix as necessary. Mixture will be light green with flecks of basil in the butter.
Spoon half into a glass container with a tight lid for storing in the fridge (for immediate use.) Take the other half and make quenelles* and place on a tray on parchment paper. Once frozen, remove to a plastic freezer bag. I found out the hard way that this freezes into a rock, so making the quenelles and freezing half a batch is an easy way to quickly add some to a dish.
YUMMY on pasta, bread, and decadent for frying eggs for breakfast.
* a quenelle is a fancy word for a shaped plop of butter.
About Deb
Holy Spoons 