Nothing lifts the humble piece of steak or fish as quickly and easily as a compound butter.
So what is compound butter? Basically, it is flavoured butter. Using salted or unsalted butter, mix in a selection of your favourite herbs or other ingredients.
Some simple combinations include:
- garlic, lemon and parsley
- parsley with tarragon, chervil or dill
- wholegrain mustard, lemon and chives
- capers and lemon
The combinations are endless but one of our favourites for beef is basil butter…mmmm, so good!
What you’ll need:
125g softened butter
1 tbs Dijon mustard
½ cup fresh basil, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbs green peppercorns, crushed (optional)
In a bowl mash the softened butter a few times with the back of a fork. Combine the mustard, basil and garlic with the butter and mix until well combined.
Roll the butter mixture into a log shape in some foil and refrigerate to set. When you serve your steaks simply slice off some butter, smear it on the steak and watch it melt into a delicious sauce.
Another way we use compound butter is to refrigerate only half the butter and use the other half to rub into a piece of eye fillet, which is then baked in the oven – divine! When the eye fillet is cooked to your liking serve it with the other half of the butter on the side, so you can add additional flavour if you want it.