Do you have a simple recipe or trick you use to take a meal from drab to fab? Califlower is a classic example, by itself it can dull but add some cheese sauce or roast it with some salt, pepper, lemon zest and garlic and you have a real treat. Or do you have a special sauce or spice you add to a meal to give it a bit of a kick and bring it to life?
One reader has just descovered one such trick. This trick has literally be meal changing and they want to hollar it from the roof tops! Over Christmas they were given a yummy home-made flavoured butter spread. It was simply an equal mix of butter and cold pressed olive oil. The trick was the olive oil was locally grown and had a bit of “character” about it – a peppery flavour.
That got us thinking about flavoured butter generally. Like sauces and dressings, flavoured butter can transform an otherwise unexciting meal into something quite special – ‘Master Chef’ standard special.
Those living off the smell of an oily rag tend to use pretty basic ingredients, so having something on hand to make meals more exciting is not a bad thing. Basically, you can serve up the same old thing, but adding an embellishment can produce a completely different taste treat.
Flavoured butter works well as a spread with bread, or as a drizzle over vegetables and meat.
To make a flavoured butter, soften your butter to a creamy texture which can be easily stirred – by letting it stand at room temperature, heating it in an oven, or zapping it in the microwave. Once it is soft, stir in seasonings, such as any of those listed below, to produce the desired flavour. The flavoured butter can then be stored in the fridge.
Orange butter
Stir in 1 tablespoon icing sugar and 2 teaspoons grated orange peel. Serve with bread.
Garlic butter
Stir in 2 cloves of minced garlic or 2 teaspoon garlic powder. Serve with bread or beef.
Parsley butter
Stir in 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 3 teaspoons dried savoury (crushed), a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper. Serve with potatoes, fish, or bread.
Onion butter
Stir in 1 cup finely chopped onion, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon dry mustard and a dash of pepper. Serve with beef or burgers.
Herb butter
Stir in 2 teaspoons dried thyme (crushed), and 2 teaspoon ground sage. Serve with vegetables.
Tarragon butter
Stir in 2 teaspoons lemon juice and 1 teaspoon dried tarragon (crushed). Serve with fish, beef, chicken or vegetables.
Lemon butter sauce
Place lemon juice into a pot and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add cubes of butter and mix. If it’s a bit sour, add some sugar. Once the butter has been combined, mix in some parsley and season with salt and pepper. Now it’s ready to pour over the meat or vegetables. Top with fresh parsley, and, if you want to get really fancy, sprinkle over some toasted sliced almonds. This is perfectly accompanied by a summer salad and fresh bread rolls.
These variations are so easy and can make all the difference between “Oh no, not vegetables again”, to “Yum, vegetables!”
And what about a dab of flavoured butter mixed with steamed, fresh picked butter beans straight from your garden, or spread over home baked bread straight from your oven – now that’s living off the smell of an oily rag in style!
Do you have a favourite meal embellishment? We’d love to hear from you in the comment section below.
By Frank and Dr Muriel Newman. Read more Oily Rag articles here.
You can contact the Oily Rag community via the website at oilyrag.co.nz or by writing to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei.