Herb Butter

We have an herb garden in our yard and no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to catch up with using everything at the rate it is growing. So, I thought a simple and easy way to put these herbs to use would be to incorporate them into a butter. You can spread it on rolls, use it in scrambled eggs, or even as an added flavor to steamed vegetables. (My absolute favorite herb to put in butter is cilantro. Rub it on corn on the cob, with a little sea salt and pepper. Amazing).

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter

Handful of fresh herbs (I used parsley, basil, rosemary, and chives)

1 or two garlic cloves (optional, I love garlic so anytime I can use it I will)

Salt and pepper

 

Recipe:

It’s quite simple. Put all the ingredients into a food processor, and process until smooth. About 30 seconds-1 minutes. (Trust me, nobody wants to eat a big chunk of uncooked garlic so don’t hesitate to over-process).

If you don’t have a food processor, you can make this as follows.

Leave butter out to soften at room temperature. Meanwhile, chop herbs and mince garlic.

In a small bowl, preferably using a rubber spatula, mush herbs and garlic into butter. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and stir it in as well.

Now, I like to roll my butter up and slice it off as needed. Take a sheet of aluminum foil and plop butter on top. Roll up foil so the butter forms a cylinder shape. You can twist the sides of the foil to close the ends. Once it has set, you can also remove and put onto a butter dish, refrigerated. Otherwise, simply slice off the desired amount from your foil roll on an as needed basis.

Enjoy!

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Cream of Watercress Soup

I love, love, love watercress. It is listed as a member of the mustard family. Who would have thought?

A little background info on watercress:

This herb is fully stocked in the nutrition department. It has high levels of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Iron, and more. In plant form, it survives in a bed of water. Most of our watercress supply comes out of Central Florida, however I have found several how-to’s for home watercress growth. The first suggests sanctioning off a small area of a stream, but since most people I know don’t have private access to one I’ll describe the home garden method.

Dig a 6-inch deep plant bed in your garden and line it with polyethylene. In the bottom, make a 2-inch deep soil bed of composted soil or potting soil. Sprinkle seeds over soil and gently rake them into it. Keep the soil moist, but not covered. After seedlings appear (about 5 days) raise water level daily until the plants are growing in water. They will be ready to harvest after 3-4 weeks.

The following recipe comes from the Silver Palate Cookbook. It serves four.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups finely chopped yellow onions

1/2 cup minced shallots

3 cups chicken stock

1 medium potato, peeled and diced

4 bunches watercess

1 cup heavy cream

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Grated nutmeg, to taste

Cayenne pepper, to taste

Recipe:

Melt butter in a large, heavy pot over low heat. Add onions and shallots and cook, covered, until tender and lightly colored, about 25 minutes.

Add the chicken stock and the potato, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, partially covered, until the potato is tender, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the leaves and stems from the watercress and rinse thoroughly.

 

When the potato is tender, add the watercress to the pot, cover, remove from heat, and let stand for 5 minutes.

Pour the soup through a strainer, reserving the liquid, and transfer the solids to a food processor. Add 1 cup of the cooking stock and process until smooth.

Return the pures to the pot, stir in heavy cream, and add 1/2 to 1 cup more stock until soup is of the desired consistency.

Set over medium heat, season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne and simmer until just heated through. Serve and enjoy!

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